How will history view President Trump?
On the ranking of presidents, I totally agree that Trump will be at the rock bottom of the list. However, I suspect that Trump will have more profound significance in history than his ranking.I would predict that (more based on subjective optimism than scientific evidence) history will view the 2010’s under Obama and Trump as the turning point on how America (and the world) would see diversity in opinion.Obama won his first term with a promise to unite the country. He did not. It was not his fault, mostly. The congress was determined to ensure that Obama would fail. However, Obama still managed to accomplish reasonable achievements, won a second term and put America in a reasonably good shape.From the accomplishment’s point of view, America was lucky. But culture wise, Americans seem to have forgotten the importance of staying united — well, the country is still in a good shape in the absence of any compromise, consent and mutual understanding in the previous eight years. That’s at least partly why they thought they could risk a divisive figure as their leader. They hope that unilateral determination would make America great again.It has become obvious that unilateral determination would not work. It has also become obvious that Trump would follow his style whatsoever. It follows that America would get hurt. That is the only way for Americans to see the importance of what Obama had vowed to achieve at the very beginning. There is a Chinese saying, “one needs to see his own coffin before learning to cry”.So, history will view Obama as a righteous persons initially trying to unite the country, but eventually got the country divided (or, more accurately, casual about divisiveness). Trump will be viewed as a divisive and obnoxious president who reminded the country that they have to stay united.Am I confident that it would happen? Not at all. But I really hope so. At least we still have some hope.
Besides not liking him because of his perceived racism and sexism, what are the left's arguments against Trump?
I’m not “left” but I’ll answer anyway.Most importantly, Trump is incapable of critical thinking. He actually believed that Obama was born in Kenya. He doesn’t think climate change is real. He thinks vaccines cause autism. And it’s not just the beliefs themselves, it’s that his “reasons” for believing them are bizarre. On vaccines, for example, said: “Have you seen the size of that syringe?!?!” Think about the thought process behind this. Essentially he is saying: Vaccines cause autism because the syringe is large. This is not a rational conclusion.Add to this the fact that he is so thin skinned that he engages in name calling via Twitter with movie and TV celebrities. He doesn’t have the mental balance to understand that their criticisms of him are inconsequential to the performance of his job.And finally, he has severe psychological problems. Have you looked at the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder in DSM 5? It takes five or more of the following:Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high status people (or institutions).Requires excessive admiration.Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations.Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends.Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.Good clinicians will tell you that they can’t make diagnoses without a personal interview, but it obvious to even the casual observer that Trump has at least five, and probably all nine.Trump is a really stupid, mentally disturbed individual. That’s not the type of person who should occupy the office of President of the United States.