Donald Trump: Unpresidented.

President Trump peddling snake oil in Youngstown, OH, 7.25.2017.

I was nine years old when I first learned to recite the Presidents backwards.

Ever since, they have been a source of interest, of inspiration, a lens through which to better understand America in all of its ragged guts & glory. They exist as a set of 44 men who, at their best, represent the best that America can be.

This is not true, however, of the current president.

President Donald J. Trump is shaping up to be the joker in the deck, the one who taints the entire set by the mere presence of his inclusion.

This is not just tragic, but ironic--no President has ever been more obsessed with the concept of "branding," & yet President Trump single-handedly ruins the brand of President.

He is, to use his own mistaken term that was left up in a tweet for nearly an hour before it was taken down & corrected, "Unpresidented."

So last night, in one of his countless would-be election rally speeches in Youngstown, Ohio, when President Trump said that "With the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any other president," he had finally gone too far.

Now it was personal.

I'm pretty sure President Trump initially ran for President as a publicity stunt to promote his then-dimming brand, & as time went on, found himself triggering something like a social movement he couldn't have predicted. Somehow this super-rich New York City elite who bragged about his adultery & had the speaking skills & morality of a 3rd grade bully won over the so-called Christian conservatives in the midwest & south.

What was supposed to be referendum on America became a referendum on Hillary Clinton.

As he continued to fall backwards into things going his way, Trump's insatiable ego took over. He must be great because every tells him he's great. He should be President because he is a Great Man because he must be. He is basically like Rodion Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky's Crime & Punishment, only instead of killing a helpless old lady, he killed our country.

But the American People--or more tellingly, the Electoral College--called his bluff & made him President. As everyone waits with baited breath for the "real President Trump," he continues to be the only Trump there ever was: The self-absorbed jackass who blusters his way through everything with big empty promises, insults, & tweets. Even now that he is President, the campaigning never stops. Can you imagine if six months in, Obama still talked about McCain nearly every day or Bush had kept bringing up Gore?

The only saving grace to this all is that Trump himself appears to hate his new job.

I chalk it up to the fact that, until January 20, 2017, he hasn't really had to put in a hard day of work in probably 30 years. He's not used to doing it, & even worse, he's not interested in doing it. He's used to surrounding himself with his family (why do you think they all now work in the West Wing?) & letting them call the shots as he supplies the brand name like an honorary CEO.

I've heard skeptics say that perhaps the weight of the office would inspire him to step up, but all signs thus far have indicated that he simply does not possess the mental ability to do so. Someone recently wrote that being President requires at least some level of intellectual curiosity, & President Trump appears to be entirely void in this way.

He surrounds himself with yes-men & Fox News who don't dare to question his allegedly historic, "A+" Presidency, & everyone else is either wrong or "FAKE NEWS."

It's basically like "The Emperor's New Clothes," & Trump is the clueless king who's complimented by his noblemen but stands naked to the world.

Or perhaps, he's like King Lear, a fool who believes himself to be a wise man, railing against the storm in futility & rage.

Whatever he is, it's not presidential & it's ruining the brand of men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, & Franklin Roosevelt; let alone more recent ones like Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, & Ronald Reagan.

One of our worst Presidents, Warren G. Harding, who spent his time in office gambling & cheating on his wife while appointing his corrupt friends to government positions said, "I am not fit for this office & should never have been there."

If only President Trump could have the wisdom of, um, Warren G. Harding.

Presidential Gatherings.

Happy Presidents Day!

On a search to find the most former, current, or future presidents alive together at one time, I stumbled across some presidential gatherings that I was unaware of—& some pretty definitive pictures from ones I did know about. I decided to gather them all in one place as I sought to answer my question. What follows are photographic occurrences of four or more presidents gathered at once.

When President Obama was inaugurated, he asked outgoing President Bush to host a presidential meet-&-greet in the Oval Office before the ceremonies on January 20, 2009:

Presidents G.H.W.Bush, Obama, G.W.Bush, Clinton, & Carter.

The five men would gather again on May 1, 2013, for the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library:

Presidents Obama, G.W.Bush, Clinton, G.H.W.Bush, & Carter.

Besides the opening of presidential libraries, it seems that funerals are the most common way to get presidents together. Here is picture from the funeral of Coretta Scott King from February 7, 2006. Four out of the five living presidents attended (President Ford was too ill; he would die later that year), while a sixth president—future President (then-Senator) Obama was also in attendance:

Presidents & First Ladies G.W.Bush, Clinton, G.H.W.Bush (sans Barbara), & Carter.

Here is a picture from the Nixon Funeral, from April 22, 1994, minus G.W.Bush but plus Ford:

Presidents & First Ladies Clinton, G.H.W.Bush, Reagan, Carter, & Ford.

This same group also gathered for the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on November 4, 1991:

Presidents G.H.W.Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, & Nixon.

Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, & Reagan got together lots of times, in various combinations over the years. The finest, in my opinion, comes from late 1981, after the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, when President Reagan gathered with his living predecessors:

Presidents Ford, Nixon, Reagan, & Carter.

Growing up in the post-Nixon era, I was very used to the sight of four or five former presidents gathered together. However, historically, this is a relatively rare thing. In fact, when Nixon himself took office in 1972, there were no living former presidents. However, there were a few times when several gathered in the decades before. Here is the funeral for Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, who died in office; his funeral was held on November 18, 1961, & had President Kennedy, future President Johnson, & former Presidents Eisenhower & Truman:

Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Eisenhower, & Truman.

The four men also attended the funeral of Eleanor Roosevelt on November 10, 1962:

Presidents & First Ladies Kennedy, Johnson, Truman, & Eisenhower (sans Mamie).

Finally, there is the inauguration of President Eisenhower on January 20, 1953, with a future President (then-Vice-President) Nixon looming eerily large:

Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, & Hoover.

That pretty much covers all of the major times four or more presidents have gathered together in modern times. I thought that the opening of Hoover's Presidential Library in 1962 might have attracted a few, but it looks like only Truman attended; by the time Hoover died two years later, Kennedy had already passed away, leaving Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, & future President Nixon, but I can't seem to confirm that all four men were at the ceremonies.

By the way, in a rare feat, the First Ladies totally outshine the Presidents in this category. Two times in the 1990s, no fewer than 6 First Ladies gathered, the first in 1991 for the opening of the Reagan Library:

Standing: Nancy Reagan & Barbara Bush.
Sitting: Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Rosalynn Carter & Betty Ford.

And the second time in 1994:

Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan,
Barbara Bush, & Hillary Rodham Clinton.

There was a brief period in 1993, when the 6 First Ladies above were alive at the same time as Pat Nixon, but I can't find any evidence of the 7 First Ladies ever gathering in one place.

Still, well done, Ladies!

* * *

Now, to get back to the original question at hand: The most presidents gathered at once. There are two contenders that predate photography. According to David McCullough in The Great Bridge, 6 past, present, & future presidents were on-hand for the opening of the Erie Canal on October 26, 1825: Former Presidents Adams, Jefferson, Madison, & Monroe, President John Quincy Adams, & future President Jackson.

New York Governor DeWitt Clinton upstages all the presidents
in attendance by performing "The Marriage of the Waters."

There is also the first State of the Union by President Martin Van Buren on December 5, 1837, which also had 6 past, present, & future presidents: President Van Buren, former President John Quincy Adams (then a congressman), & future Presidents Polk (then Speaker of the House), Fillmore (who was a congressman), Pierce & Buchanan (who were both senators).

Only one problem. The State of the Union address was delivered by paper starting with Jefferson in 1801 until Woodrow Wilson reinstated the practice of reading it in-person over a century later. So unless there was some state ceremony in that time period that required all those men to be there, we can't say for sure there was anything more than the definite potential of 6 presidents gathered (guess "The Little Magician" wasn't so magical after all).

President Martin "Coulda Shoulda Woulda" Van Buren.

So it looks like the Founding Fathers have done it once again.

Unless, of course, Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes the 45th President, which would add her to both the Nixon funeral & the opening of the G.W.Bush Presidential Library as a 6th—as well as the Coretta Scott King funeral as a record-breaking 7th.

Not to jinx anything.

The Day George Washington Died.

Today is a day that tragedy struck in American History.

On December 14, 1799, George Washington, the Father of Our Country & the First President of the United States, passed away from a throat infection in his Mount Vernon home at the age of 69.

He was the only president to both live & die in the 18th Century.

Convinced he would die at a young age like all men in his family before him, Washington not only lived, but—after having several horses shot out from under him in battle—at times would wonder if he wasn't perhaps invincible. Still, he worried about a premature death.

His fatal illness came about after he insisted to do his daily inspection of Mount Vernon even though it was cold & rainy (once a surveyor, always a surveyor, it seems).

It's tempting to look back & say, "If only he had listened to his family & servants & stayed home that day," etc., but history has a way of making our minds up for us—if only in retrospect.

Perhaps he was worried about something in particular that day; perhaps he was obsessive with his property; perhaps he sensed it was his time (or close to it, anyway) & felt he already had been living on borrowed time for too long in the first place.

We'll never know the motive.

But we'll never forget the result.

From the sketchiest flicker of psychological shadow comes the darkest truths etched in tombstone: George Washington would die on December 14, 1799.

By that point, the town of Newtown, Connecticut, had already existed for 95 years.

All The President's Hashtags.

The 5 living US Presidents at the opening of the Reagan Library, 1991;
Reagan was known as "The Great Communicator" for his ability
to use social media to rally his base.

With the recent success of Obama's #My2K Twitter campaign, many assume that this is the first time a US President has used a hashtag to promote their agenda, but in fact, the hashtag is a long & proud American political tradition. For centuries, presidents have been using hashtags to rally their bases—first through printed leaflets, followed by telegraph, telegram, email, & finally, through Twitter.

American Wolf is proud to present the first time they've all been gathered in one place.

So, without further ado, here's—

A Brf Histry Of POTUS #Hashtags:

@TheWashington: #SpiritOf76

@JohnMFAdams: #XYZnot4Me

@ThomJefferson: #2xTheU@2centsPerAcre

@ConstitutionFather: #NoWayUK1812

@LastCockedHat: #MonroeDoctrine4All

@JQA: #Back2TheAdams

@OldHickory: #WeH8TheNatlBank

@LittleMagician: #DontPanic1837 

@OldTippecanoe: #2TermsOrBust

@FatherOf15: #2Legit2Quit

@YoungHickory: #GoWest

@OldRoughNReady: #OldSoldiersNeverDie

@MillardFillmore: #ISucked

@FranklinPierce: #IReallySucked

@JamesBuchanan: #IReallyFuckingSucked

@MrLincoln: #4Score7Years

@TennTailor: #PlsDoNotImpeach

@USGrant: #PopularButIncompetent

@RutherfordBHayes: #TildenWho?

@JamesAGarfield: #DarkHorseRox

@ChesterAArthur: #ImWithChet

@GroverCleveland: #IWillReturn

@LittleBenHarrison: #GrampasPride

@GroverCleveland: #2Kool2BKonsecutive

@WmMcKinley: #RembrTheMaine

@RoughRider: #TrustBust4U

@BigBillTaft: #Death2Washtubz

@ProfWilson: #14Points4USA

@WarrenGHarding: #GStands4GodAwful

@SilentCal: #_________

@GreatEngineer: #2Chickens4EveryPot

@FranklinDelano: #4Freedoms4EVA

@HarrySTruman: #BuckStopsHere

@GenEisenhower: #ILikeIke

@JackKennedy: #WhatUCanDo4UrCountry

@LBJ: #Gr8Society4All

@TrickyDick: #Waterg8Sux

@GeraldRFord: #IBegUrPardon

@MrJimmy: #Malaise4UandI

@TheGipper: #TearDownThisWall

@GeorgeHWBush: #NoNewTaxe$

@WilliamJClinton: #WeCannotFearChange

@GWBush: #MissionAccomplished

@BarackObama: #My2K