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The Conversation
The Conversation
Politics
Ronald W. Pruessen, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Toronto

‘Wearied’ almost to death: U.S. presidents have often experienced despair amid political turmoil

George Washington Abraham Lincoln Oil Donald Trump Jimmy Carter Herbert Hoover Ulysses S Grant Woodrow Wilson The United States
George Washington, depicted crossing the Delaware River in 1776 in this painting by Emmanuel Leutze, was victorious not only against the British Army, but also against his despair. (Metropolitan Museum of Art), CC BY

The 2024 presidential election loss was bad enough for Democrats in the United States, generating dismay and woeful post-mortems throughout the ranks.

Then came Donald Trump’s rapid-fire announcements of nominees for top-level posts in his second administration — some with troubling resumes (Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Dr. Oz) and others with profiles that align with a scorched-Earth approach to the liberal policies of President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Barack Obama (the Elon Musk-Vivek Ramaswamy twosome, for example).

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