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History Will Look Kindly on Trump, No Matter What
To think otherwise requires a gross misunderstanding of how — and by whom — history is recorded
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
Ever since November 8, 2016, when Donald Trump won the election to become president of the United States, a cottage industry arose speculating about what history books would say about his tenure. Immediately after the election, TIME asked a group of historians that question — and in the years since, as Trump has presided over one calamity after another, espousing racist ideologies, and driving the country headfirst into 200,000 preventable deaths (and counting), that analysis has continued. January 2019, the BBC: “How will history judge President Trump?” March 2020, CNN: “History’s verdict on Trump will be devastating.” It’s become a rallying cry for people looking for some solace in the four years of terror we have endured.
The irony here is that thinking that history will treat Donald Trump poorly requires a gross misunderstanding of how history is recorded. Because history always treats White men better than they deserve. So, contrary to what many of us may want, I have no doubt that history will remember Donald Trump fondly.
