President Donald Trump placed himself alone at the pinnacle of American presidential history Thursday, sharing a ranking on Truth Social that labels him “The Greatest” while relegating several Democratic presidents to the lowest category and omitting nearly a dozen other commanders in chief altogether.
The graphic sorts presidents into six classifications: “The Greatest,” “Great,” “Near Great,” “Average,” “Below Average,” and “Failures.” Trump is the only president appearing in the highest tier.
The chart appears to have been adapted from a presidential ranking published by LIFE magazine in 1948, which was based on assessments from 55 experts in American history. Much of the original list and its omissions remain intact, but Trump’s version adds three more recent Democratic presidents to the “Failures” category, places another Democratic president in the “Average” group and installs Trump by himself at the very top.
The “Great” category features Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.
The next tier, “Near Great,” consists of Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, John Adams and James K. Polk.
Presidents classified as “Average” are Bill Clinton, John Quincy Adams, James Monroe, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Madison, Martin Van Buren, William Howard Taft, Chester A. Arthur, William McKinley, Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Harrison.
Trump’s “Below Average” group includes John Tyler, Calvin Coolidge, Millard Fillmore, Zachary Taylor, James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce.
At the bottom of the chart, the “Failures” category includes Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding and Jimmy Carter.
A number of presidents do not appear anywhere on the graphic. Those omitted are William Henry Harrison and James A. Garfield, both of whom died shortly after assuming office, as well as Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Trump had invoked the younger Bush just a day earlier in another Truth Social post, sharing an image contrasting their presidential records. The graphic placed Bush alongside a sign reading “Mission Not Accomplished 2001-2021,” while Trump appeared above a separate message declaring “Mission Accomplished 2026.”
The post appeared intended to portray Trump’s war in Iran as a successful military campaign while contrasting it with the two-decade U.S. war in Afghanistan, which began under George W. Bush following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Trump also offered some decidedly less formal presidential rankings in July while appearing on Second Lady Usha Vance’s podcast and reading the children’s book Presidents Play! He described Lyndon B. Johnson as a “tough cookie,” called Ronald Reagan “high quality,” and referred to George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush collectively as “the Bushies.” All four are missing from the ranking Trump posted Thursday.
Trump also poked fun at William Howard Taft, whom the new chart places in the “Average” category. Noting Taft’s distinction as the heaviest U.S. president, Trump joked, “I have to be careful, ’cause I don’t want to supersede his record.”
{Matzav.com}
