All right. Another “presidential ranking” game item, and here try to analyze the shift in Opinion On High as presidents rise and presidents fall.

Risers over the course of this century: Eisenhower from 9 to 5. Grant from 33 to 20. The second Bush started at 36 and now sits at 29.

Droppers over the course of this century: Wilson from 6 to 13. Polk from 12 to 18. Jackson from 13 to 22. Cleveland from 17 to 25. Carter from 22 to 26. Ford from 23 to 28. Nixon from 26 to 31. Hayes from 25 to 33. Van Buren from 30 to 34. Taylor from 28 to 35.

Grant has been on a steady rise in esteem, his reputation changed from “drunkard sitting by as the Credit Mobilier Scandal and Whiskey Ring scandals fleeced America” to the last President to give a damned about civil rights and enforce Reconstruction in the South. His reverse figure is Hayes, a uniter at the price of leaving the South enact Jim Crow. We at first understand Jackson and Van Buren as in tandem — the troubles of “Manifest Destiny” — , but looking closer it is interesting Jackson’s drop did not come until 2017 — when Steve Bannon was hard selling Trump to model his presidency after him. The rise of the second Bush has to be understood in the light of comparison with Trump — Eisenhower as well (Ike too a shove off from Bush — the search for a decent Republican Party figure.) Curiously Bush’s perceived error in ” World Building” is one of two factors for Wilson’s slide, along with us casting eyes on his racist policies. Carter’s fall may be a result of now having multiple contemporary Democrats to point on, and no longer having to accept or look over his limitations. Nixon may see that lquick rise post death glow fading, and the comparisons to any scandal to Watergate remimd everyone — oh right, Watergate.

I am at a loss for Cleveland and Taylor, but imagine a kind of “fill out the survey” akin to sports reporters deciding rankings for # 16 or thereabouts through 25 in college athletic teams — splitting hairs on middling teams who beat one another and lost to one another.

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