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On election night, I didn't sleep well as the horrific results rolled in. In the morning of November 9, I was too sick to my stomach to eat breakfast. My country elected a self-interested, unqualified bigot to the highest office in the government. Never has anyone been less worthy of the presidency. I thought my fellow citizens were better and smarter than this. My parents and I were traveling in the days after the national disaster and it helped ease our shock to distract ourselves with an audiobook of Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years (1954) as we toured three sites related to our greatest president on our journey north. In the shops at all theses sites were souvenirs showing all the 44 Presidents of the United States: rulers, place-mats, posters, etc. I couldn't help thinking how unattractive such things will be once Donald Trump's face is added to them--how he cheapens and disgraces the presidency. It turns my stomach to know that history teachers will be forced to add his shit-eating, grinning mug to a wall of his illustrious predecessors' portraits. I could imagine their faces twisting with disgust.

Rather than draw all forty-four prior presidents, I've drawn a selection of some of the best, in my opinion, revolted by whose name will be recited with theirs as President of the United States.

Clockwise from the top:

(1) George Washington: "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen." A man of outstanding moral character who set an example of humility and restraint for his successors. He could have been king, but served two terms only, setting an example which would stand until Franklin Roosevelt's third term. Now he is succeeded by a man of no morals and with no restraint, who may not even let the Constitution's term limits keep him from a lifetime in office.

(16) Abraham Lincoln: Bred to hard work on the American frontier, he educated himself and, from humble beginnings, became a state representative in Illinois, a lawyer, a US Congressman, and finally President. The first of his Republican party to hold the office, he was a symbol for them even as they drifted farther and farther from his ideals. In those most difficult years of Civil War, though he bent the rules to preserve the Union, he acted also with restraint, gentleness, and wisdom. Now a man with no restraint and no wisdom, whose wealth and privilege leave him none of Lincoln's respect for the common worker, has permanently replaced him as figurehead of the Republican Party. The "Party of Lincoln" no longer, the GOP is now, henceforward, and forever the "Party of Trump."

(26) Theodore Roosevelt: Something of an aristocrat himself, he nonetheless came to embody the spirit of American "rugged individualism" as he made the US's presence felt in this hemisphere and around the world. Though his imperial view of American power may draw disapproval today, he also helped establish our National Parks and he took on robber barons to break up trusts and monopolies. His successor today advocates a mixture of economic isolationism and aggressive use of military force abroad, has no use for National Parks, and represents the very moneyed, monopolistic interests Roosevelt combated. I can imagine Teddy shouting, "I said the presidency was a 'bully pulpit,' not a pulpit for bullies!"

(45) Herr Drumpf himself.

(32) Franklin Roosevelt: Although responsible for the inexcusable Japanese-American Internment during WWII, Roosevelt in other ways remains one of our greatest presidents. He helped lift the US out of the Great Depression and, though hampered by isolationist national sentiments, lent US support against the power of Nazi Germany in Europe and eventually lead us through a war against Hitler in Europe and Imperial Japan in the Pacific. He helped create the Social Security Administration to provide for retired seniors, who faced destitution before. He left the US an major world leader. His unworthy successor threatens to abandon our NATO and other allies and keep the US out of solving the world's pressing problems. He will likely scrap Social Security and set big business and banks in a position to wreck our economy again.

(3) Thomas Jefferson: An idealist and dreamer, he distilled the ideas of the Enlightenment into our charter document, the Declaration of Independence, the guarantees of which for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and the equality of Man as the essential rights a government must uphold continue to set a high bar for us to realize. As a man and as president he championed science and exploration of our frontiers. Trump, however, cares not for individual liberty and certainly doesn't believe in equality. He is an anti-intellectual who denies science at every turn. Where Jefferson was an idealist, Trump has no ideals or guiding philosophy; power and fame are his only goals.

So much for my ranting. Suffice it to say the Presidency has fallen on hard times.

Description
On election night, I didn't sleep well as the horrific results rolled in. In the morning of November 9, I was too sick to my stomach to eat breakfast. My country elected a self-interested, unqualified bigot to the highest office in the government. Never has anyone been less worthy of the presidency. I thought my fellow citizens were better and smarter than this. My parents and I were traveling in the days after the national disaster and it helped ease our shock to distract ourselves with an audiobook of Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years (1954) as we toured three sites related to our greatest president on our journey north. In the shops at all theses sites were souvenirs showing all the 44 Presidents of the United States: rulers, place-mats, posters, etc. I couldn't help thinking how unattractive such things will be once Donald Trump's face is added to them--how he cheapens and disgraces the presidency. It turns my stomach to know that history teachers will be forced to add his shit-eating, grinning mug to a wall of his illustrious predecessors' portraits. I could imagine their faces twisting with disgust.

Rather than draw all forty-four prior presidents, I've drawn a selection of some of the best, in my opinion, revolted by whose name will be recited with theirs as President of the United States.

Clockwise from the top:

(1) George Washington: "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen." A man of outstanding moral character who set an example of humility and restraint for his successors. He could have been king, but served two terms only, setting an example which would stand until Franklin Roosevelt's third term. Now he is succeeded by a man of no morals and with no restraint, who may not even let the Constitution's term limits keep him from a lifetime in office.

(16) Abraham Lincoln: Bred to hard work on the American frontier, he educated himself and, from humble beginnings, became a state representative in Illinois, a lawyer, a US Congressman, and finally President. The first of his Republican party to hold the office, he was a symbol for them even as they drifted farther and farther from his ideals. In those most difficult years of Civil War, though he bent the rules to preserve the Union, he acted also with restraint, gentleness, and wisdom. Now a man with no restraint and no wisdom, whose wealth and privilege leave him none of Lincoln's respect for the common worker, has permanently replaced him as figurehead of the Republican Party. The "Party of Lincoln" no longer, the GOP is now, henceforward, and forever the "Party of Trump."

(26) Theodore Roosevelt: Something of an aristocrat himself, he nonetheless came to embody the spirit of American "rugged individualism" as he made the US's presence felt in this hemisphere and around the world. Though his imperial view of American power may draw disapproval today, he also helped establish our National Parks and he took on robber barons to break up trusts and monopolies. His successor today advocates a mixture of economic isolationism and aggressive use of military force abroad, has no use for National Parks, and represents the very moneyed, monopolistic interests Roosevelt combated. I can imagine Teddy shouting, "I said the presidency was a 'bully pulpit,' not a pulpit for bullies!"

(45) Herr Drumpf himself.

(32) Franklin Roosevelt: Although responsible for the inexcusable Japanese-American Internment during WWII, Roosevelt in other ways remains one of our greatest presidents. He helped lift the US out of the Great Depression and, though hampered by isolationist national sentiments, lent US support against the power of Nazi Germany in Europe and eventually lead us through a war against Hitler in Europe and Imperial Japan in the Pacific. He helped create the Social Security Administration to provide for retired seniors, who faced destitution before. He left the US an major world leader. His unworthy successor threatens to abandon our NATO and other allies and keep the US out of solving the world's pressing problems. He will likely scrap Social Security and set big business and banks in a position to wreck our economy again.

(3) Thomas Jefferson: An idealist and dreamer, he distilled the ideas of the Enlightenment into our charter document, the Declaration of Independence, the guarantees of which for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and the equality of Man as the essential rights a government must uphold continue to set a high bar for us to realize. As a man and as president he championed science and exploration of our frontiers. Trump, however, cares not for individual liberty and certainly doesn't believe in equality. He is an anti-intellectual who denies science at every turn. Where Jefferson was an idealist, Trump has no ideals or guiding philosophy; power and fame are his only goals.

So much for my ranting. Suffice it to say the Presidency has fallen on hard times.