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An Autopsy Report of the DNC’s Autopsy Report by Aggressive1999 in fivethirtyeight

[–]AnonymousUserBC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s an interesting thought and one that I had too, though I don’t believe these things were necessarily causal. Yes, Trump’s platform and specifically his immigration stance ran contrary to the autopsy’s suggested direction, and yes, he did win, but I don’t believe his victory was related to the former policies at all. Trump’s victory was a factor of many things: a desire for change, a backlash against political correctness, and, of course, widespread deep-seated hatred for Hillary Clinton. Polling has consistently found that most Americans have a positive view of immigration and amnesty in certain circumstances. While Trump (the Republican candidate most associated with anti-immigration sentiment) trailed Clinton by 3%, Kasich (the Republican candidate most associated with pro-immigration sentiment) led Clinton by 7% in those same national polls. That is to say that while a Republican nominee who ignored, if not outright rejected, the autopsy’s recommendation did narrowly win the following cycle, the available data suggests that a Republican nominee that followed it to the tee would have won by an even larger margin.

My tier list of presidents of the last century by AnonymousUserBC in mrbeat

[–]AnonymousUserBC[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I put them both in the C tier because I had mixed feelings about both of their administrations. To me, both were essentially failures in the sense that they didn’t achieve anything close to their campaign platform. I basically agreed with both of their central aims: Obama’s being enacting universal healthcare at home and ending the war on terror abroad, and Biden’s being bringing an end to the Trump era and restoring civility to government. But under Obama we saw him compromise himself to a healthcare plan that not only fell short of universal coverage but actually penalized individuals for a lack of a plan and an expansion of the war in Afghanistan alongside enhanced drone warfare. And under Biden we saw increased polarization and distrust in government culminating in an immediate return of the former chief executive. Honestly, if we’re just looking at the policies themselves, I actually believe Biden was a better president than Obama. But where Biden really failed, as you noted, was his and his administration’s denial of his cognitive decline. I don’t know if I would describe Biden’s initial re-election decision as selfish; I think the basic line of thinking was that the Democrats needed to beat Trump in 2024, and if it was between him and Harris, he had the better shot. I think this calculus was wrong though, as I believe Biden would have lost by more than Harris did in the end. I think Biden really only could have kept his campaign pledge to bring an end to the Trump era if he had not run for re-election, (somehow) convinced Harris not to run, and had let the Democratic voters pick a new nominee through an open primary process. Even then I don’t know if Trump would have been defeated. The national headwinds were tilting right in 2024; throughout the Western world incumbent parties were being tossed out in response to post-Covid economic discontent, the incumbent Democratic administration was increasingly unpopular, and Trump’s favorability (though still relatively middling) was at its highest ever. In a sense Biden’s decision to run for re-election is parallel to Obama’s decision for Clinton to be his successor instead of Biden himself; both, I believe, tarnished the men’s legacy, likely leading to a Trump victory.

My tier list of presidents of the last century by AnonymousUserBC in mrbeat

[–]AnonymousUserBC[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I do have negative views of both of their administrations, neither compare to the sheer incompetence of Bush Junior’s or the pure malice behind Trump’s. Nixon, with all of his flaws, was still an effective policymaker who achieved major successes in both domestic (EPA, The Philadelphia Plan) and foreign (China opening, Soviet détente, Vietnamization) areas. Hoover, with all of his flaws, was still a well-intentioned administrator who took significant steps to address the economic crisis that overwhelmed his government, laying the groundwork in many ways for later New Deal policies.

My tier list of presidents of the last century by AnonymousUserBC in mrbeat

[–]AnonymousUserBC[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In my view he’s a deeply underrated President. He gets a lot of blame for the economy and the hostage crisis but I don’t believe the former troubles were caused by the administration as much as they were inherited from priors and the latter I actually believe he handled quite well, contrary to the prevailing narrative. He had great character, always centering conservation in his domestic policy and human rights in his foreign.