The Last Four “Republican” Presidents Are the Four Worst in History

When presidential historians and other politicos attempt to rate our nation’s 47 presidents, there are always a large number of opinions. As a writer who has been involved in American politics since 2012, I feel qualified to offer my opinion, based on years of reading historical fact and current articles from legitimate sources written by the world’s most respected journalists.  

My assessment of our presidents is focused on the 13 men I have experienced in my nearly 79 years. I rate them by applying how well they served all of our nation’s people, their abilities to make decisions which positively affected all of our nation’s people, their loyalty to our country and their willingness to do the right thing every time, regardless of political consequences. Of the 13 men who affected me and those I love since 1956, I believe that only one could be considered great, five were good, and four were a disgrace to the principles and values of our founding fathers. The remaining three were simply place holders until they could be replaced.

This article will explain why I consider the last four Republican presidents the four worst in American history.

 

I was raised in the 1950’s and 60’s. I was taught to believe that our presidents were worthy of my respect, and that they believed that their purpose was to secure the safety of our nation’s people, and the improvement of every American’s quality of life. Remember, I was an original baby boomer. After WWII, which changed world history, our nation experienced radical change over every successive decade.

Politicians, corporations, the super-rich, and even religious leaders saw post-war America as an opportunity for personal gain.

Our nation’s two-party system functioned adequately during the 1950’s and 60’s. Deliberation and compromise continued to produce legislation which was mostly beneficial for the majority. However, after the 1980 election, huge changes began to reshape our nation’s political infrastructure.

A mediocre actor and con artist became our country’s 40^th president in 1980. I was one of millions of Independent voters who believed Ronald Reagan’s speeches. However, after taking office in 1981, he revealed the “real Ronald Reagan.”

His policies included disrespect for the working class, racism, bigotry, misogyny, and violating the First Amendment by placing one religion in a position of greater importance than all others.

Most importantly, Reagan changed the Republican Party and moved it so far to the right it would never serve all of our nation’s people again.

Reagan demanded absolute obeyance and loyalty within his party. He ignored Democrats as he amassed more power than any other president in history. Honest deliberation and compromise began to disappear. His fiscal policy of “trickle-down economics” protected the profits of the super-rich and when he left office in 1989, the national debt had escalated to more than one-trillion dollars.

His wars on the working class, minorities, homosexuals, women, and non-Christians began the division of our nation’s people which continues to escalate in 2025. These were the first steps to end democracy and establish fascism in America.

Reagan was succeeded by George H.W. Bush. He chose the same failed fiscal policy and supported the demands of corporate America. As our nation’s economy began to nosedive, and the national debt increased, he was forced to renege on his primary campaign promise: he raised taxes. He refused to do the right thing and force our nation’s wealthiest men and women to pay their fair share.

In 2000, a biased Supreme Court gave a victory in the presidential race to the worst and least qualified candidate in modern history, until 2016, George H.W. Bush.

Apparently feeling overworked after about six months in office, Bush and his Vice-President, Dick Cheney went on vacation, although they had been warned by our nation’s leaders from every security agency about what they believed was an ‘imminent’ attack being planned against the United States.

After the cowardly and devastating attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush used fear tactics to unite our nation and gains support for his agenda. Under his administration there were major attacks on the Constitutional rights of all Americans. His “Republicans” took control of all three branches of our federal government and began rule over the American people, ignoring their mandate to ‘serve’ all Americans.

On October 26, 2001, the Patriot Act became law, and with it came the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The Patriot Act virtually repealed parts of the First, Fourth, and 14^th Amendments. The DHS usurped powers from other established agencies and made hasty and poor decisions about the future safety of our nation.

In 2003, using lies to gain support from congress and the American people, as well as the United Nations, American forces invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq. The mission in Afghanistan to capture or kill the architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden in 2001 failed miserably, but our military forces remained. The United States became engaged in two illegal, immoral, and unwinnable wars.

Another action based entirely on politics created ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I was an unnecessary, and poorly trained arm of the right-wing extremists in Washington. These thugs would later become Donald Trump’s personal gestapo.

Bush continued to support the super-rich, including criminal acts by men who controlled our largest banks on Wall Street. The result was the ‘Great Recession.’ Thousands of American families lost their homes as thousands of our military were losing their lives and suffering debilitating injuries in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not a single executive on Wall Street was ever punished for his/her crimes.

When Bush 43 left office in 2009, America was in chaos and approaching financial ruin. Our nation was saved by the first Black President who was a Democrat and employed the best advisers available.

Disaster became a reality on November 8, 2016. The worst presidential candidate in history who was well-known as a racist, bigot, and sexist, became our country’s illegitimate president. Aided by Vladimir Putin, the mainstream media, James Comey, and our cowardly government which refused to warn the voting public about Russian interference in our election one month prior to the election, Donald John Trump, a failed businessman and notable conspiracy theorist, secured the Electoral College vote, and became our illegitimate 45^th president.

Violating the Constitution became standard operating procedure from day one. Trump was impeached for cause twice, and twice Moscow Mitch McConnell refused to hold a fair trial in the Senate.

Two weeks before his eviction from the White House, Trump organized, planned, and executed a failed coup. This crime by any definition was treason.

On the day he was removed from the “people’s home,” he violated the Espionage Act by stealing at least 14 boxes of national secrets.

He has never been punished for his crimes and never will be. America has become a nation without laws.

 

These four old, white, Republican men not only caused great damage to our nation, much of it irreparable, they brought an end to the once Grand Old Party. Today’s pretenders oppose the principles, morals, and ideals of the Party of Lincoln. The right side of the Capitol Building aisle has become the American Fascist Party.

These are the worst men to ever hold the office of President of the United States of America. In order, they are George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and leading this group of criminals by far is Donald John Trump.

Today, Trump 2.0 is 100 times worse than the first.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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