Author and military historian Max Boot is a self-identified conservative, but he's by no means a supporter of President Donald Trump. Boot endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election and he's frequently referred to Trump as the worst President in modern times.
But in a blistering new op-ed for the Washington Post, Boot removes the "in modern times" qualifier, referring to Trump as simply the worst President in U.S. history, citing his delayed and inadequate response to the virus that's brought the United States to a standstill.
Boot writes:
But in the past month, we have seen enough to take away the qualifier 'in modern times.' With his catastrophic mishandling...Trump has established himself as the worst president in U.S. history."
Trump was warned repeatedly that an outbreak in the U.S. was inevitable, but he continued to turn a blind eye:
"The warnings about the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks were obvious only in retrospect. This time, it didn't require any top-secret intelligence to see what was coming. The alarm was sounded in January by experts in the media and by leading Democrats including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden."
Trump held eight rallies and golfed six times during the early stages of the outbreak in the United States.
Boot goes on to note that the combined job losses during the 2008 recession totaled around nine million—a number the United States surpassed with just the past two weeks alone. Another grim milestone came Monday morning, with the announcement that the United States had surpassed 10,000 deaths due to the virus.
The disaster—according to Boot—is unprecedented.
"This fiasco is so monumental that it makes our recent failed presidents — George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter — Mount Rushmore material by comparison. Trump's Friday night announcement that he's firing the intelligence community inspector general who exposed his attempted extortion of Ukraine shows that he combines the ineptitude of a George W. Bush or a Carter with the corruption of Richard Nixon."
People tended to agree with Boot's assessment.
Some even said that the opinion piece wasn't an opinion at all, but a fact.
Others disagreed, reminding that while Donald Trump's presidency has been fraught with scandals and violence, the United States has a long and often tyrannical history.
But if people are debating whether you're the worst President ever or the worst President in modern history, you've likely taken a wrong turn.
To decide for yourself, check out A Very Stable Genius, available here.
