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Past & Present | Is Trump The Worst President In American History?

By any objective measure, Donald Trump appears headed toward being regarded as the worst president in American history. Ten months into his presidency, even with a Republican majority in the U.S. House and Senate, Trump has yet to sign any meaningful legislation into law. 

Even the much-maligned Warren G. Harding, during his first months in office, could take credit for finalizing the creation of the Government Accounting Office in 1921.

While the bombastic and combative Trump continually blames Democrats and recalcitrant Republicans for his legislative failures, it appears that Trump’s autocratic personality is at the core of his political problems. This rank amateur in the realm of politics, who reveled in telling people “you’re fired” in his reality television show “The Apprentice,” is seemingly incapable of operating in the “give and take” atmosphere associated with Capitol Hill. Moreover, it is increasingly clear that, other than simply dismantling the legislative legacy of his predecessor, the 45th president of the U.S. has no substantive and coherent agenda. This, among other things, is a contributing factor to the literal chaos associated with contemporary national politics.

As we move closer to another calendar year, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan, and its various nuances, remains a mere rhetorical flourish. In fact, it brings to mind the classic Wendy’s commercial of the mid-1980s when a female senior citizen famously asked “where’s the beef?”

Robert E. Weems Jr. is the Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History at Wichita State University.