July 28, 2025: Echoes of Bad Presidents: Andrew Jackson

[On July 31, 1875, Andrew Johnson died. Johnson is one of our worst presidents, which means he also reminds me a lot of our current and very worst one. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy echoes of some of our worst presidents in Trump 2.0!]

On how I compared Trump to Jackson in 2017, and how I’d extend the comparisons today.

First, I’ll ask you to check out this March 2017 post on the comparison, and then come on back for my thoughts here in July 2025.

Welcome back! In that post I argued that one striking similarity between the two presidents and men is “thin skins and violent tempers,” and for Trump 2.0 I would extend that comparison in a particular and extremely consequential way: Jackson’s successful 1828 presidential campaign was motivated (both for him and his extremist supporters) by perceived grievances about the 1824 election; and of course Trump and MAGA’s Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election played a significant role in the 2024 one. These electoral grievances have only made even clearer the central role that self-fulfilling narratives of victimization play for both Trump and his extremist base: from “DEI hires” to “trans athletes” to “invading” immigrants who are intended to “replace” white Americans, virtually every core MAGA belief is driven by a sense that they are under threat, and that Trump is their champion in those fights. I have to imagine that an infamous dueler like Jackson was perceived in similar ways by his supporters.

In that prior post I also sought to distinguish Jackson from Trump based on the former’s at least somewhat more genuine emphasis on “the common man.” While I do believe Jackson cared more about that community than does Trump (whose embrace of billionaires in this new administration only drives home whom he sees as his true base), I didn’t say there nearly as clearly as I should have that Jackson meant only “the common white man.” From his slaveowning and “Indian killer” days to his defining Indian Removal policy, Jackson was unquestionably white supremacist in both his personal and political actions, motivated by a vision of the United States as essentially and enduringly white in its identity and ideals. Perhaps the late 1820s was too early for a slogan like “Make America Great Again,” but I have no doubt Jackson would have signed onto that mythic patriotic project—and even less doubt that one of the most central goals of Trump 2.0 is an extension of the Indian Removal project to every non-white American.

Next baddie tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What do you think?