Awful Leaders that can Top Trump [in awfulness]

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > Awful Leaders that can Top Trump [in awfulness]

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

So I know the argument for FDR is that he overstepped his boundaries and the Japanese internment.

My question for him is what makes the rest of his policies bad enough to declare him "the worst president ever".

# ¿ May 16, 2017 22:59

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 02:59

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

Captain_Maclaine posted:

Libertarians and other associated dumbasses sometimes twist themselves into knots trying to prove that the New Deal actually made the Depression worse and/or caused it to begin with, so maybe that?

Oh, and he did lead the country into fighting fascism, which many right wingers now think was a mistake.

I'd love their justification for how the New Deal started the Great Depression in 1933, 4 years after a gigantic banking crash.

# ¿ May 16, 2017 23:11

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

Mortabis posted:

New Deal didn't start the great depression. Consensus among economists for ~40+ years has been that the great depression was caused by deflationary monetary policy, namely, the bank of France and the federal reserve buying up gold. (Scott Sumner has a very good book on this.) The stock market crash was a symptom, not a cause of the Great Depression. C.f. other stock market crashes (mid-80s for example) that didn't cause a depression. The problem with the new deal is the permanent expansion of the federal bureaucracy and regulatory state.

I'm not a libertarian so I'm not fully familiar with their arguments about it.

FDR had a number of excesses beyond just internment of Japanese. At no point did he really believe in limits to his own authority. He tried to pack the supreme court. He ran for office four times. He was constantly pushing against the boundaries of federal power in the constitution. He enabled J. Edgar Hoover's abuses of the FBI. And so on.

The case against Jackson is pretty straight forward: trail of tears, getting rid of the national bank.

What negative policies did FDR implement as a result of overstepping his official authority?

# ¿ May 16, 2017 23:53

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

get that OUT of my face posted:

theresa may is about as bad as trump but the british political system is going to keep the tories there for longer than a trump-led GOP

the post of current leaders worse than trump is missing Duterte, who is what trump would strive to be if a 200+ year old political system of checks and balance weren't holding him down

Trump would doubtlessly be as bad as Duterte or Putin if he didn't have the restrictions that the American government puts on the president.

# ¿ May 17, 2017 11:46

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

Peanut President posted:

Somehow I missed that Sonny "pray for rain" Perdue was the loving Ag Secretary.

And he's still teaching Trump basic aspects of his job.

# ¿ May 17, 2017 16:06

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 02:59

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

Nebakenezzer posted:

I actually think it's a bit unfair to have Harrison in, as he was a guy who gave his inauguration speech in the pouring rain, got pneumonia, and died. It's a bit like making GBS threads on James A. Garfield or something

Harrison also ran on a platform of being a simple man's man who ate raw beef and biscuits all the time, while his opponent Van Buren was a dainty rich boy who supped on veal fricassee and fine wines. If that's true, I don't think his diet did his constitution any favors.

# ¿ May 18, 2017 00:35

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > Awful Leaders that can Top Trump [in awfulness]