Parallels Between The Presidencies Of Donald Trump and James Buchanan

     James Buchanan is frequently ranked as one of the worst presidents in history, and one cannot help but notice the similarities that mark the presidencies of he and Donald Trump:

1. The Economy-- Buchanan dealt with the Panic of 1857 in his first year in office. To be fair, the crisis was quite some time coming, and Buchanan served in an era when the president could do little more than offer solutions involving little government intervention. Trump mishandled the COVID-19 crisis 3 years into his term, resulting in 50 million Americans filing for unemployment, the worst economic quarter in a century, and medical facilities being overworked.

2. The Utah War And BLM-- In 1857, Buchanan dealt with the Utah War, a conflict in which Mormons in Utah murdered an American agent and dozens of settlers. Buchanan mobilized the military, but in the end his cabinet officer resolved the issue peacefully with Brigham Young, although this didn't prevent him from taking credit for handling the issue. Trump has deployed the special police to tear gas peaceful protestors in Portland, including the mayor, and is currently sending his brutality to other cities, even defending the critical wounding of an elderly man pushed to the ground without provocation by police officers. FOX News host Chris Wallace notes that he has handled the issue poorly, choosing to attack rather than create a dialogue with protestors.

3. Allegations of Corruption-- In 1860, it was revealed that Buchanan's prosouthern cabinet had offered prostitutes, pay, and patronage to those in Congress willing to support the president's efforts to pass a constitution in Kansas that suppressed 90% of the citizens, those opposed to slavery, with violence and fraud. During the process Buchanan called Massachusetts a terrible place to live and maintained the process was a conspiracy against him. In 2020, Donald Trump was impeached after news broke that he tried to blackmail Ukraine into providing information against his election opponent, Joe Biden's, son. He called Baltimore a rundown city and also insisted that the investigation was a conspiracy. Both were not convicted on a technicality, but their reputations were left tarnished.

4. Divisional Tension-- The killing of numerous unarmed black people such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor has led to a dialogue on police reform and race relations on a scale never seen before, and now is truly a landmark moment for racial justice, just as was the Civil War. During that crisis, Buchanan tried everything to appease the South even as they seceded and committed treason. Trump has defended the white supremacists at Charlottesville, protectedd those who wish to preserve the monuments of these traitors, and called peaceful protestors thugs while defending such police as those  in the aforementioned incident.

5. Rejection-- In the 1858 midterm elections, just as those in 2018, the opposition party won a house of Congress in a sign of rejection of administration policy. James Buchanan only served one term in the White House, but his presidency heralded the country to a Civil War in the last few months due to his overwhelming stubbornness; we can only hope Trump loses in 2020 and that our country remains a beacon of strength and liberty around the world.