Jan. 20 is quickly coming upon Americans, with half the country dreading the day and the other half anxiously awaiting its arrival. As the countdown to the new president occurs, the current one readies himself to leave. Barack Obama’s leaving has held a constant presence on social media; the phrase “Thanks Obama” has maintained its trending status for days, as grateful citizens express their love and goodbyes for the president.
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Along with the emotional messages, comparisons have come in a frenzy. Supporters of the president-elect claim Donald Trump as being strong and decisive, compared to Obama who they view as being a weak-willed pacifist.
Across the aisle, Obama fans find endless ammunition of Trump’s public demeanor and speaking, which they site as outrageously inappropriate compared to the calm, sophisticated presentation Obama is credited with.
This back-and-forth game of comparisons can serve a good purpose, but perhaps if brought to a grander scale; rather than comparing the leaving and incoming presidents, let’s compare the president-elect to all presidents who precede him, in a number of fields. Education, experience, personal wealth and many other aspects are important to understand about past presidents, as they illustrate the kind of men who have been able to handle the power and status of the highest elected office in the USA. It is my desire to illustrate how Trump fits against this history.
Of any president, Trump is by far the wealthiest.* His current fortune of roughly $3.7 billion exceeds second place Teddy Roosevelt’s $125 million by … a lot. Even if the list included the wealthiest families of presidents, of whom the Kennedys reign supreme, John F. Kennedy is nowhere near Trump, his family fortune totaling just $1 billion. While Trump must remove ties between himself and the private sector prior to taking office, the history of his massive corporate empire and personal wealth are unprecedented. However, it’s not nearly as unprecedented as the next category: political experience.
There are only six presidents who did not hold an elected office prior to the presidency, and they all have quite notable backgrounds to make up for their lack of publicly held office. Two of those six were founding fathers, three were decorated military heroes and one served as secretary of commerce for several years. Of the rest of the field, all had at least held the position of governor, house representative or senator, with many holding experience in more than one position.
Compare that to Trump, who has never held elected office of any kind, and arguably does not hold a significant background to make up for that, like the six exceptions mentioned prior. His fortune was inherited from his father, he never served (receiving several deferments from military draft), and he never served under another president. In addition, his political involvement has been insignificant. He will be the first to hold the office of president without any previously held elected office, which if looking at history, would have almost seemed like a requirement.
In the final category, education, Trump is less of an outlier and more an average figure. He received a bachelor of science degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, making him the 12th president since the 20th century with only a graduate degree or less. This group is the majority, with five law degrees taking second, and business, doctorate, and no degree tying at one a piece. Nothing out of the ordinary here, and in hindsight economics was an ideal field for Trump, as he went on to acquire and build upon a multi-billion dollar business.
If anything has been made clear by this election, and the aftermath of, it’s that Trump is a unique addition to the list of past presidents. He’s an outlier in numerous categories, and with an outlier comes a significant degree of unpredictability. That quality can instill fear in people, and is one of the main reasons so many across the nation are concerned about Trump. What will he say, how will he act?
In the past, the president may have been someone you disagreed with politically, but he was never an individual who you feared would not represent the United States in a professional, intelligent manner. Now, that comfort is lost. We cannot look to history for help, these impending times are entirely new. Trump doesn’t hold up to the presidents of the past. To some, that’s good. To others, its bad.
Either way, America can be ensured the next four years will be summed by one word: unprecedented.
* list compares presidents after the 20th century, though Trump is still by far the wealthiest
