Would people here say that Donald Trump is generally a worse president than George W. Bush? At least he hasn't started two forever wars (yet).
I've got pretty strong opinions on this, actually, and people get really offended and angry at me about it, but I stick by it.
I get really frustrated with everyone's fixation on Trump as an individual. Trump is a terrible individual, but everyone's fixation on him reveals just how much they weren't paying attention before. The only things he's done differently from the last few administrations that I'm aware of are the trade war, and being generally much more incompetent. Everything else is stuff that was already happening or had already been set in motion before Trump took office. Everyone's suddenly aware of these things now, because Trump's personal character draws attention to them.
All of this stuff has precedent and roots going back generations. Most of USA's history is not flattering, honestly. The stage for modern day was set long, long ago. But the Bush administration really lit that stage up and got the modern shitshow started. They started the forever wars based on lies, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocents. Made the global issue of terrorism what it is today. Normalized the use of mercenaries who are unaccountable to any legal structure, and thus free to carry out war crimes, which also launched Erik Prince, one of the most terrible people alive and the brother of Betsy DeVos, into a position of frightening power in the modern world. Brought torture back into the civilized world. Kidnapped hundreds of people from all over the world, many innocent, for torture and indefinite detention through their extraordinary rendition program. Expanded surveillance programs to dystopian extremes the likes of which the world has never seen, and launched a massive campaign of domestic intimidation and suppression of dissent that knocked activism to one of its lowest points ever. And many countless other severe rollbacks of civil liberties, including suspension and weakening of Habeas Corpus and Posse Comitatus.
Bush turned the white house, and frankly the world, into a fascist's wet dream. Obama reinforced the structure of that house. Trump hasn't done much more than live in it and play with the toys that others put there.