Nixon's personality traits come closest to Trump's - he was often nasty and vindictive and quite willing to violate the law to get what he wanted; however, he also knew there were lines he couldn't cross, and he didn't make the entire presidency about himself. He even did a few things that were actually useful. When he resigned I was relieved because the system worked and I knew we'd never again have such a bad, dishonest president. Silly me. I didn't think much at all about Ford and Bush I - not crazy about either of them but neither tried to wreck the government (except for the pardoning Nixon bit). Disliked Reagan intensely but didn't wake up every morning wondering hopefully whether he was dead yet, even though he was showing signs of deterioration in his second term. Bush II was a clueless doofus, a spoiled nepobaby who had no business being anywhere near serious government. But even despite the Iraq debacle I didn't imagine his demise every minute. IIRC, there were no "Is he dead yet?" threads on DU. The chipping away of the foundations of government that started in his term came more from SCOTUS than from Bush himself. I was certainly glad to see him go, and especially glad that he had at least the decency to pretty much disappear - I think he knew he'd fucked up Iraq and he was capable of shame.
The glaring difference between these presidents is that Trump shows in all its hellish glory the element of pathological, in-your-face malevolence, the kind of viciousness and spite that even Nixon, nasty as he often was, didn't possess. At least all of them liked animals! Trump is one of those uncommon individuals who is just plain bad to the bone, without any redeeming qualities at all. He doesn't like the arts except to use them for his personal glorification. He has no use for nature except to give it to his cronies to exploit. He treats the government as his personal fiefdom and demands constant worship. But he doesn't seem to love anyone, even his own family, and nobody loves him. He's just a bundle of transactions. He's at the center of a Venn diagram of stupid, crazy, and evil. And I wake up every morning hoping that the answer to Orrex' question is finally Yes.
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