President Donald Trump on Tuesday told reporters he became “extremely angry” after learning that someone on television ranked him as only the third-best president of the United States. Speaking during a Rose Garden event at the White House, Trump said he aimed to “beat Washington and Lincoln.”
Trump made these comments during a speech to GOP senators celebrating the demolition of a portion of the White House East Wing to make way for a new $200 million ballroom.
Donald Trump Reacts to Presidential Ranking
Trump recounted how the television commentator placed him behind George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
He said, “so we did the presidential walk of fame from the great George Washington all the way to, well, I think we have to raise him above me, so I, less than great, less than George. Somebody went up the other… they say, ‘You’re the third-best president in the United.’ This was on television, ‘Third best,’ And they said, ‘Who were the first two?’ ‘George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.’ And I got extremely angry at this man.”
He later added, “You know? You can’t. It’s going to be, it’s going to be tough to beat, Mr. Senator, it’s going to be, John, it’s going to be very tough to beat Washington and Lincoln, but we’re going to give it a try, right? Hey, they didn’t put out eight wars, nine coming. Alright? We put out eight wars, and the ninth is coming, believe it or not.”
Internet Trolls Donald Trump For Solving Imaginary Wars
The White House event focused on the demolition of a section of the East Wing to accommodate the construction of a large ballroom. Critics and social media users were quick to respond to Trump’s remarks about his presidential ranking and his claim about ending “eight wars.”
“Every day he solves another imaginary war in his head,” wrote one X user. Another added, “Isn’t a sign of cognitive issues repeating the same delusion over and over and over again?”
It remains unclear who Trump was referencing when he mentioned the television commentator. Earlier this year, in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump claimed that someone had told him neither Washington nor Lincoln could defeat him in an election, saying, “And they said, sir, if George Washington and Abraham Lincoln got together and ran as president and vice president, they couldn’t beat you.”
What Polls Says About Donald Trump’s Presidential Ranking
Trump’s claim of being highly ranked stands in contrast with multiple historical assessments. In C-SPAN’s 2021 poll of historians, he was ranked fourth-worst, ahead of Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan, while Lincoln and Washington held the first and second spots, respectively.
A 2024 poll of American Political Science Association executives ranked Trump as the worst president.
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
