Has there ever been a President more divisive than Trump?

[pitabread]

From this article: Ex-defence chief Mattis rips Trump for dividing Americans

"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people --does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us," Mattis wrote in a statement published by The Atlantic. "We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership."​

Before the pandemic hit, Trump seemed like he might escape his Presidency without having to deal with any serious crisis. But in the wake of the pandemic and now the protests and riots, this has exposed Trump's glaring inability to function as a real leader.

Even Trump's approval ratings have never crossed the 50% threshhold, which seems to be a first for a President going all the way back to FDR.

Has there ever been a President this divisive before?

 

[Yttrium]

Possibly Andrew Johnson (not to be confused with the much more popular Andrew Jackson). He's frequently ranked as worst president ever, and was the first president to be impeached.

Andrew Johnson - Wikipedia

 

[wing2000]

Has there ever been a President this divisive before?

...certainly not in the modern era. Presidential historians might provide some earlier examples. However, those Presidents did not have twitter or other instant, mass means of stirring the pot as it were.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

I am in my 6th decade and I have never seen it. General Mattis also says he has never seen it.

 

[trunks2k]

Well, several states did secede over Abraham Lincoln, but I wouldn't put the blame on Lincoln's shoulders for that.

 

[sfs]

Jefferson Davis.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Has there ever been a President this divisive before?

Barack Obama.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

The country has been divided for decades. Nothing to see here.

 

[sfs]

Barack Obama

Ah, so Obama called his opponents 'scum' and endorsed the idea that the only good Republican was a dead Republican. I'd forgotten that.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Jefferson Davis.

Fake president of a fake country. We put him right. (mostly)

 

[Bobber]

Before the pandemic hit, Trump seemed like he might escape his Presidency without having to deal with any serious crisis.

Good grief! Aren't you forgetting just a few months ago some were in hysterics that we might be heading for WW3 because of Iran? Did we? Nope.

But in the wake of the pandemic and now the protests and riots, this has exposed Trump's glaring inability to function as a real leader.

I think you'll find most will assess Trump's handling of the pandemic perhaps not having no mistakes BUT not so horribly bad and he did many things well. Even NY and Washington state said so. And about protests and riots? I'm not sure you've demonstrated everyone agrees he hasn't basically handled them well. First of all the President of the United States doesn't even have authority how individuals police forces all across of America carry out policy.

So why is he made to blame? You might say well he's to set the tone....well yeah but only to a point. And there's two sides to everything as well. You don't just need someone to talk all the sweet pacifying talk but you also need one to lay it down straight. Even the Governor of NY and the Mayor of NY city are battling one another as to being more strong and aggressive or being more of a pacifier. All political leaders are trying to navigate their way through this as wisely as they can...some more giving into protesters and others wanting to make some strong stands. Both may be right to a point.

 

[pitabread]

Barack Obama.

[citation needed]

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Barack Obama.

How exactly did he divide the country?

 

[Yttrium]

Obama had a rough time with congress, but that was mainly because of the excessively stubborn Tea Party.

 

[pitabread]

Good grief! Aren't you forgetting just a few months ago some were in hysterics that we might be heading for WW3 because of Iran? Did we? Nope.

Okay. And?

I think you'll find most will assess Trump's handling of the pandemic perhaps not having no mistakes BUT not so horribly bad and he did many things well. Even NY and Washington state said so. And about protests and riots? I'm not sure you've demonstrated everyone agrees he hasn't basically handled them well. First of all the President of the United States doesn't even have authority how individuals police forces all across of America carry out policy.

This is largely about Trump's ability to manage in a crisis. A good crisis manager should focus on uniting people to diffuse the crisis in question. In Trump's case, he seems to have continuously taken the opposite approach.

 

[MorkandMindy]

How exactly did he divide the country?

Into deplorables (with 'her') and non deplorables (against 'her' and her wars)

 

[Hans Blaster]

How exactly did he divide the country?

Presidenting while black; it's a serious felony.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Into deplorables (with 'her') and non deplorables (against 'her' and her wars)

Those were Hillary's ill-chosen words, not Obama's (and in the last year of his, not her non-existant, presidency). Try again.

 

[Evan Jellicoe]

For what it’s worth, a group of political scientists surveyed in the Brookings Institution report found Donald Trump to be America's most polarizing president by a wide margin. Here are the top 20 from the list that they compiled

1. Donald Trump
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. James K. Polk
4. James Buchanan
5. Franklin Pierce
6. Thomas Jefferson
7. John Adams
8. John Tyler
8. Zachary Taylor
8. Herbert Hoover
11. Andrew Johnson
12. Barack Obama
12. Andrew Jackson
12. Richard Nixon
12. George W. Bush
16. Theodore Roosevelt
17. George H. W. Bush
18. Woodrow Wilson
19. Bill Clinton
20. Lyndon Johnson

Here is the entire story.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Fake president of a fake country. We put him right. (mostly)

eh... It seems that we left some of that cancer in place.

Into deplorables (with 'her') and non deplorables (against 'her' and her wars)

Even assuming what you said is true (it isn't), how is calling racists "deplorables" worse than retweeting "the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat"?