Ranking the Private Citizen-elect
Jan. 19th, 2021 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ndrosenWhen Dishonest Donald won the 2016 election, I posted (on LiveJournal then), “Champagne corks must be popping at the James Buchanan Fan Club.”
How does Trump compare to James Buchanan? Since we have not actually descended into civil war (and may hope that this remains true, although I am not as confident as I would have been ten years ago), there is one point for Trump. Buchanan is generally blamed for handling the secession crisis badly, although it is debatable what even a more resolute and capable statesman could have accomplished; Buchanan did disgrace himself by placing the blame on the agitation of Northern abolitionists.
On the other hand, Buchanan did not, so far as I am aware, actively incite the slaveowners to secede, nor accuse Abraham Lincoln of stealing the election, so one can argue that he was a morally sounder man than Donald Trump, demonstrating greater truthfulness, and superior fidelity to his country and its constitution.
How does Trump compare to James Buchanan? Since we have not actually descended into civil war (and may hope that this remains true, although I am not as confident as I would have been ten years ago), there is one point for Trump. Buchanan is generally blamed for handling the secession crisis badly, although it is debatable what even a more resolute and capable statesman could have accomplished; Buchanan did disgrace himself by placing the blame on the agitation of Northern abolitionists.
On the other hand, Buchanan did not, so far as I am aware, actively incite the slaveowners to secede, nor accuse Abraham Lincoln of stealing the election, so one can argue that he was a morally sounder man than Donald Trump, demonstrating greater truthfulness, and superior fidelity to his country and its constitution.
