Historians collide with GOP group's claim Trump was 'greatest president' in history

Seismologists report that the chunks of granite falling from the Mount Rushmore National Memorial come from the laughter of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt after they read a recent email blast from the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Donald Trump is “the greatest president in American history,” the NRSC’s fundraising missive declared.

The group, whose purpose is electing Republicans to the Senate, isn’t known for having a staff of eminent historians. But that didn’t stop the NRSC from making the claim about Trump in an email urging people to sign an online birthday card for the former president and current putative Republican president nominee. Trump turned 78 on Friday.

The idea of Trump’s presidential preeminence runs counter to historians’ verdicts.

The C-SPAN Presidential Historians Survey of 2021 placed Trump at No. 41 out of 44, not including Biden.

The Presidential Greatness Project had Trump dead last this year.

The Siena College Research Institute put Trump 43rd out of 45 in 2022.

Raw Story asked Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), chairman of the NRSC, if he ranks Trump, now a twice-impeachedconvicted felon who couldn’t win re-election and inspired an insurrection, as the greatest president in American history.

Rachel Dumke, press secretary for Daines, demurred: “This is the senator’s official office, and since this is an unofficial matter, you’ll need to reach out to the NRSC.”

Raw Story asked the NRSC to explain its reasoning for ranking Trump ahead of all other presidents, including Republicans such as Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln. The NRSC did not respond.

Even Trump himself — during the dawn of MAGA, at least — indicated Lincoln stands above all other presidents.

“You can’t out-top Abraham Lincoln,” Trump told the Washington Post in 2016.

“With the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that’s ever held this office,” Trump said in 2017.

C-SPAN’s presidential ranking survey has used the same criteria since 2000 for assessing presidencies: public persuasion, crisis leadership, economic management, moral authority, international relations, administrative skills, relations with Congress, vision and setting an agenda, pursued equal justice for all and performance within the context of times.

Said Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute, when its rankings were announced: “The scholars that participate in this study have changed over 40 years but the top five — FDR, Abe, Washington, Teddy and Jefferson — remain carved in granite year after year.”

Trump frequently refers to President Joe Biden on the campaign trail as “the worst president in history.” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said the same thing recently.

The Presidential Greatness Project, which had Trump last, put Biden at No. 14, which project directors Justin Vaughn of Coastal Carolina University and Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston attribute in part to the dim view academics take on Trump.

“Trump’s radical departure from political, institutional and legal norms has affected knowledgeable assessments not just of him but also of Biden and several other presidents,” Vaughn and Rottinghaus wrote.

Rottinghaus declined to tell Raw Story whether any plausible argument exists to place Trump at No. 1, as the NRSC did.

But he and Vaughn did note that Trump even ranked below presidents James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, the mid-19th century flameouts who bookended Lincoln’s presidency.

Their assessment of Buchanan and Johnson: “Historically calamitous.”