For those complaining that I'm reacting to Ben's list (which is, btw, the point of this video) rather than giving my own reasons and rankings for everything...it's because I've already done that, twice. Once on my own - th-cam.com/video/zzvokaQk9YE/w-d-xo.html and once in a 4 hour stream with Mr. Beat - th-cam.com/video/UAUg6y2UX88/w-d-xo.html
I respect Shapiro a lot and I could say I agree most of the things he believes in, however there is a reason why I chose to watch your tier list video on US presidents over his. I think when someone is used to such a polarized, political environment the person in question will be more resistant to view the other side in a positive way. I like that you have your moral standards and that you're also willing to at least learn and hear out differing opinions. A great example of a student of history.
Why use Ben Shapiro as a model? Anyone who give FDR and F when he literally created the middle class, gave us SS and the New Deal and oh defeated fascism, winning WW2 and finally being elected 4 times as President is a fool and an ideologue to the extreme.
And Trump is no where near the Woodrow Wilson’s and Buchanan category, really? The guy lost an election and committed sedition to over turn the election he lost and refused to accept defeat and do a peaceful transfer of power. Sedition is domestic treason, he’s a dictator wanna be and he was a terrible President.
The big problem with judging very recent presidents from recent history is that we never get to see their long term impacts, thus making it impossible to fully judge them.
@@evanbell7825 he has had very little effect on gas prices, how many times do people need to disprove you guys? The only effect he would have is sanctions against Russian oil. Trump actually signed a deal with OPEC to not produce oil at full capacity back in 202”, that deal is still in effect so trump has more blame than Biden.
@@evanbell7825 Gas prices like the stock market a president is wise to not take the credit nor the blame. Unfortunately the peanut gallery is not all that intelligent.
@@startledmilk6670 I guess I am confused on this. Didn't Biden put restrictions on domestic oil which you think would have an impact on supply and thus price?
@@anafrinil6310 no he stopped the keystone pipeline deal but that wouldn't do anything now because it would've been a few years before the pipeline was operational.
I enjoy how you can separate history from politics in certain ways. I feel like it is important to use history to inform politics, but imposing modern politics on what already happened is trying to square a circle a bit.
@@demi3115 There are times when it's appropriate. Like, we call agree enslaving people = bad, so judging people like Washington and Jefferson for literally owning human beings is alright with me. However, history doesn't happen in a vacuum. Everything needs to be taken into context.
M@Leo Espinoza: Agreed. Now if only we could find a dem who could be neutral, & not anti-conservative! (I didn't use the term ' liberal', bcs I'm an ex- dem, & consider myself a liberal conservative, as he mentioned).
Those people exist. You don’t hear from them more because a) their voices aren’t deemed popular by the algorithm and b) because Leftists and moderate Liberals are tired of having to explain themselves so they’ve abandoned the conversation, too in love with decency to endure the toxicity of far right rhetoric and not passionate or angry enough to get on a pulpit to defend their principles. Instead they stay quiet at home as Conservatives win the culture war.
@@suraya1224 we’re out here…keep looking! We understand that the moment demands different approaches (eg there is a time for conservatism and a time for progressivism)
For real. That is wild. Dude is one of the least controversial presidents of all time. He did amazing things and everyone agrees that they were good things. Because of Teddy we can go to the grocery store and buy some meat without getting botulism one in five times. Because of Teddy we have the national parks. I agree that the Trust Busting didn't have the intended effect, but I think MOST people agree that price fixing is wrong and that the government should step in to stop monopolies. Teddy gets credit for trying, even if it didn't work the way he wanted it to.
@@gregortheoverlander4122 dude you can't forget about the internment camps. That alone puts him down to C tier. I'm not saying F tier or even D. Let's settle for C, because he did lots of good things but those internment camps are such a high moral travesty you can't ignore that.
@@mrgaudy1954 Shaprio is not a libertarian and in no way claims to be. Mind you i have no clue what faux means and niether does google when i look up faux libertarian. But hell, on the libertarian test, which is supposed to make you a libertarian, Ben barely was and anwsered qeustions like banning porn.
I think the problem with Wilson being so highly thought of is that in school we really only hear about him leading us through ww1, 14 points, and the 19th amendment. Simply looking at that, Wilson sounds pretty good but we never learn much more about Wilson. I loved history throughout high school but I never knew how atrocious Wilson was until much later
I think there is also part of each party trying to make their Presidents look better. Both sides do it with Presidents that were horrible in their parties. So in this situation we get democrats that just try to show the good things and hide the bad. If Presidents from back in the day didn’t have party labels then people would actually have to learn what policies each President had and make their opinion off that info instead of just picking the republican or democrat just because.
@@harrisonbaylor1432 thats so true, and honestly party values have shifted so much that the democratic party that Grover Cleveland was a part of was wildly different from that of say Jimmy Carter
I tell my students that projecting a political ideology onto history makes for terrible history. Modern politics should be informed by history; history shouldn't be (really can't be) informed by modern politics. I love that you look through history with an attempt to account for your political perspective. I wish we were all more like that.
@@dbsti3006 The 1619 project doesn't have a political bias, it was made bias free and then the idiots politicized it. It expounds the truth, and if you disagree, you're objectively wrong. This isn't a matter of debate, there are some questions with correct answers
@@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868 How is it bias free when they're making slavery mistakes the basis, and front and center of the entire founding of this country? Most people understand it as history, but also understand that you have to move on from your mistakes and not make them again. You're not gonna sit here and tell me this isn't a political move to benefit one side, when two years ago, Marxist college students were tearing down civil war statues and desecrated a veteran war memorial on the very basis that since the 1619 project started, it's already in the classrooms making white people feel guilty of things that happened years ago. Now these misled 1619 angstful white people go and destroy the very history that reminds us to not make mistakes again. Who are you kidding guy? That 1619 project is 100% left wing lunacy to the core. If you're left wing, then of course you're not gonna find an issue with it. If you're a free thinker, you'd understand what I'm trying to tell you.
@@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868 The 1619 project creates a perpetual state of division and anger. It takes away their ability to achieve on their own and instead demand that they are always owed something because their ancestors were slaves. Yeah. We get that. They were once slaves. Fine. But this movent is pulling society backwards into a serious problem. The author of the writings is Nicole Hannah Jones. She is a very open and shameless Marxist. So yeah, you can't get more biased than that.
I really enjoyed this. As a Brit, I still feel a bit in the dark about the ins and outs of US politics. I know the names of the presidents, but not nearly enough about the details of their terms. One thing I really notice is how easy it is to form a sort of passive opinion of a figure from history; an opinion which often changes when one really digs into the details. Thank you for an informative and balanced video.
As a fellow brit who lived there for 7 years, please take Shapiro's opinions with the smallest grain of salt in the shaker. He's an extremely stubborn right wing figure. I can give one example alone that promotes Obama well above the F tier. Obama care. I was there at the time and he was the only president who attempted to tackle health care costs in that country in any real way. Although its not a single payer system it's a vast improvement. That's before we get into the cultural impact of being the first black President and what that means to America. I can go on but mention those things as I think they're objective
@@brandoncockerill6183first black president did zero for the black communities he was garbage I’m not trying to disrespect you Just heavily disagree he wasn’t a good president he also loved war dropped the most bombs in a calendar year Inflation was high gas was high he didn’t do much and loved war
@@brandoncockerill6183The ACA was a legitimately terrible plan. People that sing its praises are either too young to remember what insurance was like before, or weren't living here before the ACA was implemented. It banned cross-state exchanges, raised premiums and deductibles, caused millions to lose their primary care physicians, and was nothing but a giant handout to the insurance companies since their chief lobbyist helped write it. Not to mention the 10,000,000 people that lost their coverage and had it replaced by an inferior, more expensive product. Then they had the audacity to say the were giving "refunds" to people that were overcharged in the form of a 2% discount on a premium that had increased 10-20% in a year.
@@brandoncockerill6183 Delightfully, the precise reason healthcare costs are so high is Reagan, whom he so unquestioningly slammed in the A tier. The US had pretty reasonable medicine policies and prices in 1980, and Reagan's crusade against regulation set up insurance companies as privileged middlemen devoid of any actual responsibilities. In practice, insurance companies became policy-setters for all things medical, and now have more of a say in how medicine is practiced than doctors or medical boards. Obamacare is a tiny band-aid on the absolute gaping wound Reagan inflicted on the US. It's great and all, but it's not nearly enough.
I gotta say that my biggest issue with Ben Shapiro’s ranking is FDR. You said it perfectly with how Ben undersold FDR’s leadership through WW2. It was a huge deal and he led us very well through it and deserves to be ranked much higher for it alone.
@@hazardbros2841 what type of idiotic argument is that? That's like saying that you can't have an opinion on Hitler as you weren't alive in WW2. If anything, someone who was not around back then is a better judge of history as they are not subject to bias nearly as much.
Yeah and a lot of Ben's points are contentious at best. For instance about FDR, he claims that FDR extended the great depression by as much as 8 years and portrays that as a fact when in reality it's a high debated point and I personally find it hard to believe. I can't see the US getting out of the great depression by 1933, just 4 years after it started when most other western nations had to wait until WW2 to get out of it. Although Britain is a bit of an exception, nations like France, Canada, and Australia weren't our of the Great Depression until 1939 when their war time economy helped recover their economies. I don't think 1 study is enough support to say with certainty that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression. He just seems very biased and trying to sweep FDR's leadership throughout WW2 under the rug makes him very hard to trust.
I am a left leaning individual (largely independent) but I really respect your way of conversing political ideology. Civility and not hostility is always the way to go about discussing ideology. Thank you sir.
I agree, I’m also left leaning (though I’ll vote for whoever is upholding freedom and what I see as American values) but I think it’s really unfortunate and sad that we’ve lost a lot of that civility in our society with how the extremes tend to dominate (or at least speak the loudest) conversations/topics like this
@@JoeyPastrami I'd say I'm more right leaning but have a gigantic level of respect for a person on the opposing side that can engage is civil discourse instead of calling me racist, homophobic or sexist with no grounds to call me that
One of the best instances I’ve seen of taking on a very controversial, political topic and not laying into your biases, nor ignoring them. Just a really phenomenal attempt at objectivity. Really hope this channel continues to grow because it is well deserved
Global financial collapse is being engineered by the agents of satan/nwo to bring about great reset. They want to collapse the dollar and wipe out everyone's finances to make them hungry and desperate enough to buy into their nwo system and recieve the coming mark of beast on hand or forehead. Without this no man can buy or sell. Revelation 13. New world order led by obama and pope francis is coming. Police state/martial law coming soon. Quarantine centers aka concentration camps will be activated around the world from this covid agenda. America will be invaded by russia and china in near future thanks to treasonous us govt. Repent and seek jesus christ for salvation.
Not really. This isn’t strictly history this is ranking US presidents, and the quality of a president is measured by their ability to uphold american ideals. Never in my life will I ever say someone who took three terms, conspired over pearl harbor, did nothing preemptive about communism and fascism, hurt the economy prolonging the great depression, put japanese and italians in camps, etc. etc. is ever a quality president from any ideology much less a pro american one. So the fact that a historian can look at a president like FDR with rose colored glasses shows a biases much more ludicrous than Shapiro’s own dishonest one.
Teddy roosevelt is an A tier for me, mostly for his conservation and creating a pathway for modern wildlife conservation aswell as promoting outdoor recreation.
Its more so accepting tbe fact of truth and lies. Some don't want their delusions destroyed so they turn into a feminist cycstgendered transgender elephant
@@spraynard9529 part of which problem? Because I dont bend over for people's delusional because they are brainwashed and manipulated by social media so they need to transition to various different invented genders and they share it on social media for self validation... no mate, you are far gone if you believe all that is normal
This is why i love your channel man you don't let your political biases determine how good or bad a president was. You truly deserve all the recognition you're getting.
@@dolorouspenguin6906 not to mention is very open on his political views and you can definitely see he does fight those ideas and say those ideas definitely helped the country even if they were his political views
He’s said many times he does have biases that determine his opinions. Anyone who pretends to be unbiased is lying. What makes him great is he always acknowledges his bias.
Also, as an aside, it’s pretty cool to see an historian who leans conservative disagree with Shapiro, who is really just a hardcore ideologue, and why. In the age of modern media, which rewards people like Shapiro, it’s nice to be reminded that the bulk of conservatives are actually reasonable people too.
Yeah, I think it's easy for people on either side to start thinking that the majority of people think and act like the really loud people on social media. Most of us on both sides are much more reasonable than that.
As a leftist who does not like Ben Shapiro, I appreciate your unbiased look at this as a conservative. You realize that people can be conservative or be progressive and not agree with every thing other ppl in that group say.
Same here. I tried my best to avoid this video but the youtube algorithm kept pushing it on me. Im so glad I watched it. This solidified in my mind that Chris is fundamentally a very reasonable person, regardless of political disagreements I have.
Ben Shapiro: Obama is F Tier because he created a lasting divide in American Politics Also Ben Shapiro: **puts Trump in B tier** Edit: Came back 8 months later and what have I created
Well, you've got to understand that Shapiro is a measly, whinny, ultra-right conservative who would love to destroy our system of government and replace it with a Trump autocracy, who seems to be a mix of Hitler, El Duce, and Hugh Hefner.
But Trump didn't create the divide, the media attacked him from day 1 and he is just a New Yorker so he defends himself. Every time I hear "Trump did or said this" I look it up and it's taken way out of context. Like the good people on both sides (he said except the white supremacists who he condemns totally) drink bleach (he didn't say drink bleach he was talking about research being done on a disinfecting light, because not all disinfectants are bleach) the capital crap (he said go and peacefully/patriotically protest and this wasn't to overturn the election, this was to send the votes back to the states that were having issues and fix the issues).
I do enjoy how you separated the politics from the history here. I feel like this needs to be done more in our society because it’s ridiculous how bad it’s gotten in recent years
This entire comment is kind of silly. Politics has always been ugly. Washington was the last time Americans were 100% in agreement. Political smear campaigns began immediately after. Lifelong friends Jefferson and Adams came to hate each other due to the ugly elections at that time. Then became best of friends again.
its because he speaks fast and says "facts dont care about your feelings" while he literally turns arounds and makes the facts care about his feelings by misrepresenting them or just outright lying about them. Ben Shapiro is a charlatan who has made a career off of "debating" teenagers and young adults as a 30+ year old.
I really like that you're able to separate your ideology from discussion and focus solely on policies and presidents. It really shows that you're someone who doesn't tell people what to think but how to think.
full bias aside, I think Polk is a largely under-rated president. He did everything he promised to do, which is something that should be highly admired.
Are you serious? The jackass that started the mexican american war? He can barely be underrated even in a comparison to Hitler. And he got approval for the war through deception.
I don’t agree with Polk’s politics, but I love how he had 4 goals, did the 4 goals in 1 term, didn’t run for a second term, and died 16 months after leaving office
As someone who leans left, you seem sane and reasonable, and I appreciate that. I don't agree with all of your takes, but you seem markedly more unbiased than many in recent years. There was a time where politics were far less polarized, where even though I disagreed with most right wing politicians, I still respected them. I miss that. Viewing people within my own country as "the enemy" really is the worst feeling.
You are a legend! You are able to cut the ties between History and Politics, expose the fantastical show that history is, and the crazy show that is modern politics. You deserve any kind of award for your work
Ben Shapiro playing down liberal presidents greatest feats and just throwing them in F tier is comedy lmao. "only good thing FDR did was his leadership in the biggest war in human history"
Dude his video on Barbie has irrevocably changed the way I see him. He’s another man baby that throws a tantrum because he can’t comprehend the idea that not everything has to adhere to those “Perfect Western Values”. He’s ironically one of the biggest snowflakes ever.
Its hypocritical because Ben would be signing Winston Churchill's praises for his leadership during WW2 simply because Churchill was a Conservative. Both Churchill and FDR's wartime leadership is the strongest aspect of their legacies and should be rightly praised. Even if you disagree with FDR's policies, putting him in F-tier is laughable.
He blames Obama for the debt while Reagan increased the debt way more than Obama on a percentage basis and Trump increased the debt almost as much as Obama but in 4 fewer years (Obama $7.6 Trillion to Trump's $6.7 Trillion). In fact Obama raised the debt less than Bush on percentage basis. The Republicans that bracketed Obama made the debt worse than Obama but Shapiro blames deficit spending on Obama. Just pure fiction. In the end Shapiro is simply a propagandist with no rational thoughts and that means he will be full of hypocrisy. It's barely worth discussing what he thinks.
it was very pleasant listening to your balanced responses to the guy's opinions. your ability to focus on the historical perspective must make you a great teacher. liked this a lot!
Global financial collapse is being engineered by the agents of satan/nwo to bring about great reset. They want to collapse the dollar and wipe out everyone's finances to make them hungry and desperate enough to buy into their nwo system and recieve the coming mark of beast on hand or forehead. Without this no man can buy or sell. Revelation 13. New world order led by obama and pope francis is coming. Police state/martial law coming soon. Quarantine centers aka concentration camps will be activated around the world from this covid agenda. America will be invaded by russia and china in near future thanks to treasonous us govt. Repent and seek jesus christ for salvation.
If Ben could be remotely intellectually honest I could almost respect the guy. He probably is intelligent, but he's so mired in his political bias that he just comes off like a fool.
@@ataridc how is he not an “intellectual”? He always explains his opinions in depth, looks at things from a factual view point and challenges leftists ideas. Leftist ideas are pretty bad and dangerous for society. You calling him “not an intellectual” is just ignorance. You don’t deserve to speak with no facts, so don’t at me, I don’t get notifs.
@@ataridc bruh the guy explained he's going off his political opinion not historically. He doesn't agree with the politics that were passed and how they effected it. While the historian was explaining how it was good for the time..... Stop being a Lefty who only looks for a gotcha moment. Grow up.
Pretty sure he's well aware Kennedy was a democrat. Unfortunately, he wasn't President long enough to be anything higher than C tier. And had he lived, Vietnam would've weighed heavily on his legacy.
@@Floridaman1780_ what about the cuban missile crisis, what about the US space program, what about the civil rights stuff, what about the nuclear test ban treaty??? All really important and big things that should automatically grant him either A or B tier, its not he like he wasnt in office for less than a year
@@amoryerenhouse5535 what about the Cuban missile crisis? It never would've happened if not for Kennedy's blunder during the bay of pigs. Go ask any first generation Cuban America what it was like living under Castro's thumb for ☓ amount of years and how great of a President they think Kennedy was. It was probably the biggest strategic blunder by any sitting president in American history up until Biden tucked tail and ran out of Afghanistan. Not toppeling Castro's government when we had the chance, and not following thru with air support that America promised the rebels, ensured hell for decades for Cuban citizens under Castro, and severely compromised the safety of U.S. citizens on American soil. And did you know JFK opposed the march on Washington D.C. where MLK delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech? If he had gotten his way, that speech never would've happened. And I wont even get into his extracurriculars. His assassination was a tragedy and brought the country together, but it causes people to view him as a much different President than he actually was.
as a left leaning individual, i loved this. very respectful, factual, and non biased take on this. thoroughly enjoyed this video and found myself learning a lot.
It’s always amazing when someone can do a non-biased review of a hyper partisan video. Especially when the partisan participant tries to role play as unbiased all the time lmfao,
@@geezer7818 and herein lies the problem with "rightists". Always putting everyone they disagree with as exactly the same. (I am being sarcastic here) But seriously, someone saying they lean left doesn't mean they're now suddenly your version of every single "leftist" you imagine. In fact, the extreme left is a small minority. Just like the extreme right. They're very vocal minorities which is why you might think anyone that says they're more on the left would be that way, but it's wrong to think that.
Ben purposely didn't mention The Iraq War when talking about Bush since he was such a vocal supporter of it. That catastrophe alone makes Bush one of the worst presidents in American history.
I really appreciate someone who can hold true to their values yet set it aside and look at things for what they are. Growing up with not many to discuss history with outside of the Internet, a few extra curriculum classes I had taken was one of the most refreshing and redeeming experiences as we openly discussed views civilly in a time that it was almost impossible to find outside of the classroom. I finally seen some faith in humanity 😅
I love this channel. This is like a safespace where people can discuss things in an educated manner, while also understanding biases. Really hard to find anywhere.
Its really refreshing to see someone just give a shit about what happened whether or not it aligns with their political philosophy. I think a secret part of American strength is how flexible and capable of adaptive our political structure has been to problems. Certain situations might require a stronger central government while others might benefit from a weaker one, neither one is superior to the other until context is applied, and context constantly changes.
@@davemarshall9322 it’s always meant that, problem is as with many other things, sensationalists demonized it. And turned it into some “liberal woo talk” when that’s not what it ever was.
i wish more people had the same mindset of this guy-conservative or liberal, it’s about what’s best for the country, not what we as individuals may personally agree or disagree with
I believe when Ben Shapiro criticizes the "expansionism" of presidents, he is referring to the expansion of the federal government rather than expanding the country by adding states or territories to the union.
As a Czech, I can say that in my country Wilson is one of the most loved presidents of USA, mostly because thanks to his agitation at the Paris peace conference that helped create the independent state of Czechoslovakia. Even the capital of today's Slovakia has in 1919 declared itself a free city, named itself the Wilson's city and try to become part of the US.
@@sirnetflix7162 Agreed, that is one of my criticisms of Wilson as president. I think that the positives and negatives of Wilson even out, which is why I think that he is a mediocre president.
One of the biggest mistakes of "war hawks" who never even put on a uniform is that they are so gung ho about going to war without realizing the cost. IKE was a soldier who saw first hand the horrors of war that motivated his progressive policies of peace (Sherman's quote "War is hell). As a conservative Kansan I proudly and understandably give Eisenhower a pass
It's not necessarily the case - plenty of generals become the "if all you have is a hammer" stereotype. But it's definitely a factor for the good ones. For the commander-in-chief it's certainly a good attribute that he can say "I'm not asking you to do anything, that I haven't done myself".Truman and Eisenhower have a lot to answer for in how they acted when it turned out you can't trust the USSR... but they also had a damn good reason.
Do ur research on what Eisenhower did to the Congo. He single handedly murdered that country that was so full of promise. He was not a good man, but a greedy one
Yeah. It’s why I always thought George W Bush, “Bring ‘em on” statement to be annoying. This was a guy who dodged fighting the Viet Nam war, but could casually make those kind of statements when it involved other people’s lives. A coward.
@@sidiqabdul-kareem5544 Seeing as though the military draft is a morally and ethically questionable concept to begin with, and that the draft implemented for the Vietnam War was undeniably an immoral and unethical thing to do, how the hell do you square people saying, "Yea, I'm not fucking going to war because a bunch of politicians wanna make money and fucked over Ho Chi Min,"? Honestly anyone who cares about people "draft dodging" are hypocrites at best. We're not talking about the idea of defending your own country from an invasion, we're talking about going thousands of miles away because politicians are greedy and stupid.
@@haydeng3541Abraham Lincoln was a liberal who made one of the greatest leaps in civil rights and literally exchanged letters with Marx himself. Washington was a federalist, a party that leaned heavily towards a strong government and could be considered as the liberals of their time
I appreciate the Andrew Johnson hate. I feel that he often gets overlooked. Imo he is much worse than Buchanan was. I feel as though there’s no bigger traitor in presidential history. What an awful president
New to the channel. I'm a fan now. I'm so annoyed by modern partisanship that I don't like to identify with any party; only specific issues. but I really appreciate your ability to see the whole picture.
@@LarsVilksIsAwesome He never said that though. Although it is true that most self-identified independents still lean at least slightly to the left or right
The greatest teacher I've ever had was a history teacher at community college. It was 8 years ago now but sometimes I watch engaging history videos and it brings back the love of history that Mr. Brewer sparked in me through his passion and talents in communication. Thanks for making this.
If the conservatives like you were louder than the conservatives like Ben Shapiro (likewise on the left) our democracy would be in a much better place.
Hello sir. I’ve been watching for a very long time (about 5k subs) and this may be my first time commenting… I just want to say that I really appreciate your ability to communicate your stance concisely and without accusation. I self identify somewhere between conservative and libertarian but it’s so difficult to find anyone that’s able to hold a conversation on “sensitive” topics without resorting to personal attacks. I for one deeply appreciate your character and poise and love to see your success. I’m sorry I don’t comment more often, but this video made me realize the above. Much love and a wish for continued success from Wisconsin.
When I was in college I had a great Professor that would joke around calling me the worst president in history. I always had a laugh but most people didn’t understand how awful of a president he was.
Not the biggest fan of the work in the original video, but the reaction commentary was great. I think this video really reinforced the fact that Chris tries to be as thoughtful as possible.
Very true! And although in the video Chris will make a face like "Oh I don't know about that" he will only comment on what's necessary and leave out any judgment on Ben's opinion.
@@gabeify4641 lol I love that when Ben puts Obama in F tier and goes on a tirade about why he's split America and ruined the economy Chris is just like yeah I don't even need to bother doing a real rebuttal to this
For those critical of Silent Cal because of his impassivity when it came to his style of governing, bear in mind that the problem with so many other presidents happens to be the very thing Coolidge was never concerned with; his legacy. Too many presidents make it obvious that that is their prevailing interest. In my mind it is one of the worst reasons to want to become president. Concentrating on your legacy makes it about you personally and not what's best for the country. I know it requires a major ego to reach the pinnacle of pinnacles, but balancing it with what's in the best interest of the body you are intending to serve is what separates the greats from the not so greats.
The Declaration of Independence is NOT part of the Constitution in any way, shape or form. Even the current half-wits on SCOTUS know that. But not Ben Shapiro lol. Oh and I see he doesn't know what "Federalist" means either. Sorry, I have no time for listening to morons. Bye.
Crime was rampant during the Coolidge administration because he refused to take action to either enforce prohibition or ammend the Volstead Act. He coasted on a debt driven prosperity that sowed the seeds of the Great Depression. He didn't cause the Great Depression but his administration must bear responsibility for the consequences of its policies.
It’s why Gerald R. Ford is one of my personal favorite presidents, because yes we can Monday morning quarterback and say he should have bailed out NYC or this and that, but he took over presidency from a control freak and he brought with him alot of passivity. People made fun of him and his clumsiness but I think that’s what the country needed after Nixon
Actually surprised to see Ben gave Grant such a high ranking. Glad history is finally re-evaluating what a normal man in extra-ordinary circumstances can accomplish.
@@jakubbarton1770 I mean I agree with F: and I DONT think his ww2 leadership was great either! He basically allowed the USARMY and USNavy rivalry to force america into a 2 prong strategy in the pacific, ignoring the strategic principle of concentration of force and this nearly brought the USA to disaster that it would never have recovered from. More then once. Now add his policy with Stalin was "I'll give you everything and ask for nothing and then you'll feel obliged to help me out give me what I want... " reciprocity? from JOESPH STALIN? the man whose famous quote is "gratitude is a dogs disease" Like are you senile? This is before we look at the great depression, which was caused by a liquidity crisis ie not enough money in the system. The way you fix that is you print 10 billion dollars and spend it. Build roads.. the hoover dam... homeless crisis? build millions of governemnt houses. Farms are being foreclosed on by banks wiping out small farmers and leaving a food crisis? buy out the mortages and just cancel them. Here you go, your not being evicted any more oh and by the way heres a $1000 to invest in new farm equipment so you don't go into hock again. thats not what he did though... he made it worse! he sterilised the gold inflows into the united states, reduced the money supply and let the farmers get brankrupt en mass.
@@NightgerbilTV The New Deal to this day is the best set of policies in the history of the US by pretty much any measure. Ranking Roosevelt low is ridiculous.
@@NightgerbilTV FDR is still regularly ranked in the top 3 among both historians *AND* the general public. You can type long TH-cam comments hating him all you want, but doing so won't change facts. 😊
I’m pretty left leaning and liberal and I greatly appreciate videos like this. Being able to talk about history rather than just rank based off just political party is much needed!
I had to represent Woodrow Wilson in a debate for my government class. I was convinced by my research that he was a decent president. The internet doesn’t really show how crappy he was.
@@AdamS-nv5oo , the divide in the country along racial and class lines happened under Obama. The divisiveness under Trump was a media phenomenon. In other words you see a greater rise in minority support under Trump for the GOP as whole, all the while the media is calling him a racist. It's also very telling when the current administration is losing minority support to levels that are unprecedented for the Democrat party.
@@solusgamer164 yawn. Right racism didn't exist before Obama and trump getting small bump in black vote. Apparently you forgot Trump calling parts of America shit holes. Blame everything in democrats, threaten to lock them up, etc. If you can't see that there is no point to discuss further
I appreciate how you clarified that being liberal or conservative doesn't mean you agree 100 percent. I'm a libertarian who leans republican on some issues and Democrat on others. I just get told to "get educated" or that I'm too confused to understand politics.
The reason the American political landscape today is so awful is because of the hardline, my-way-or-the-highway mentality that permeates BOTH sides. You’re not allowed to develop a nuanced agenda if you’re a part of the Democrat or Republican Party.
I think that libertarianism takes the economic policy of the republicns and social of the democrats, i consider most libertarians centrits or medorates for that very reason.
Learning that Ben Shapiro is unsatisfied with the tier choices whilst being unaware that he can alter them, is exactly what I needed to know to brighten my day, thank you.
I agree. It seems that a lot of faults of the Reagan administration were looked over in lieu of it being one of the major turning points for American Conservatism.
The difference between Rossovelt and the other "expansiomists" is He intervened through hard power, whereas the others purchased territory. There's a huge difference between the two. And the Louisiana purchase ended up being the single greatest purchase in US history. Making us self sufficient in resources.
@@joebenson528 I’m simply addressing his confusion re: Shapiro’s comment and how it was praise not criticism. You can have whatever opponents you’d like on expansion.
Ben saying that lincoln gave liberty to all people in the US instead of saying black people really shows you just how much this dude discredits black people’s trauma and history. Even his wording is pathetic
Hi Chris! I love how your doing these more modern topics. I feel like most of your audience is open enough to not hate you for your political beliefs. And I personally share your conservative beliefs, even if you were a liberal I wouldn’t let that change my opinion of you as a person. I think your a very knowledgeable person who’s passionate about history and I respect that a lot.
I think he was wise to avoid more modern and more controversial things for a while. It gave a chance for him to establish himself and earn respect. Now that it's earned and a standard has been set for the community, it works. Another positive sign of growth.
@@MrIrrelevant58 He's pretty bipartisan but he definitely leans left on a lot of issues, either way most of his videos are informative and not really opinion based
I'm really glad you brought up the point about Manchin and Colins. Thats something I cant stand to hear from people, when they complain about how these guys don't vote the party line, then sit there and act like they're some sort of traitors. We shouldn't expect politicians to always vote the party line anyways. I hate that we only really have 2 parties in the US. Honestly, I don't think there should be parties at all. People should vote the way the people in their area want them to vote. Not the way the party as a whole wants them to vote or some other BS, specifically how that politician's constituents want them to vote.
I agree with you. There should be no political parties. Political parties have become more powerful than the candidates. Political have turned politics into a team sport.
@@kurtthecat3995 _I know this comment is a bit long, but I think it's important, and decent enough that it won't be too difficult to keep your attention_ When you really think about it, we have no true democracy in this country, and that is mainly due to our political parties. Sure, we do technically get to go and choose a candidate, but the pool we're able to pick from is entirely out of our control. Technically speaking, anyone who fits the criteria can run for POTUS election. However, we all know that in order to actually have even a REMOTE shot at even being considered, you need to have a LOT of campaign funding so you can put yourself out there. You have to meet certain criteria to be in the debates too, and if you're a random person who cant make it there, you have NOOOO shot. So, these huge parties sort of pick and choose a handful of candidates to run, and many of the companies that heavily lobby these parties donate oodles of money to them for campaigning, and when we go to the primaries to choose who we want, all this carefully selected pool of people is all people truly get to pick from. Then, once we get down to the general election, we're just picking between the winners of those preselected pools of participants. Yes, we do technically get to choose, but all we're truly choosing is which party we support. At this point, it's mainly become this sad spectacle where people treat the political parties like professional sports superteams. It's like a bunch of Green Bay fans and a bunch of Bears/Vikings/Lions fans, where they're blindly supporting and rooting for their "team" while attacking the opposition whenever they can. You especially see this from the left, where you see millions of people sporting the "blue wave" emoji in their handle, along with many other people chanting slogans like "blue no matter who". They don't care about what actually matters anymore, the policies, they just want their "team" to win, which allows them to gloat and rub their victory in their "opponent's" faces. Honestly, it's truly fcking sad at this point. Even when people do talk about the policies, in many cases they haven't actually given it any true thought, they're just blindly supporting whatever "side" their party has told them to support. When they don't support their side, even if it's just a SINGLE issue, ESPECIALLY (almost exclusively) on the left, they're attacked, ridiculed, and sometimes even "canceled" for it. This all goes even further towards proving that it has nothing to actually do with each person truly supporting the policies, the part that actually matters, it's all about just blindly supporting your party. The reasoning is simple, the politicians that control the party want their power and control, and their ability to make money. If they can intimidate people into supporting them, or formulate cult-like thinking and blind, unwavering allegiance to them, this further cements their ability to not just attain the power and influence they want, but to keep it.
@@undeadarmy19 Agreed mate, really wish political parties didn't exist. So many people that vote for those they do now wouldn't if they had a different letter next to their name, and thats the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. We should be voting for the people based on their character and policies, not the letter next to their name.
Remember when Susan Collins voted not to convict Trump after his first impeachment on the basis of "I think he's learned his lesson, and definitely won't do anything impeachable again"? Yeah, I can't imagine why anyone might not like her.
I feel George Washington is the best President we've had simply because he's the only one who didn't seek the job. He had had enough of power so it had to be thrust upon him.
I think Washington is the greatest simply because he was doing his duty. Of all the presidents, without Washington, there would be no country. With Lincoln, we would have half a country or maybe we wouldn't - maybe there would be a Confederacy, maybe they would have lost, and probably slavery would have died out anyway - Great Britain had basically declared war on slavery - it was dying in the west. It simply was going to eventually go. But no Washington, no US. I don't think any other president you can say that.
Washington started the French and Indian war. We then revolted against the British because they forced us to pay taxes to support the war which Washington caused. Interestingly enough they didn't force the colonies to pay taxes to support the war until the outcry in England was so large that their hand was basically forced. So in summary, the colonists started the Revolutionary War because he was upset that Britain was making the colonies pay taxes to fund a war that was entirely started and facilitated by George Washington. He also had a ton of slaves. I am not saying he is a bad dude, but we should put what he actually did in historical context.
I mean USA was formed out of the deal, but to anybody other than an American George Washington is a self-righteous man-child that was unable to deal with the consequences of his actions so he started a war where over 200,000 people died. Pretty pathetic actions in any non-American context.
I’m not huge on Coolidge myself for various reasons, but one thing I will say is that he was probably one of the most pro racial equality presidents we had prior to WWII. He signed the Indian Citizenship Act for example and pushed for an anti lynching bill (albeit that never got passed). Coolidge was probably the most libertarian president we’ve ever had.
Agreed. It's a pity that right after Coolidge, Hoover sold the black community out by trying to cooperate with Southern Democrats and lily white Republicans. Yet another reason he was a terrible POTUS.
“FDR extended the Great Depression by 8 years!” Thats’s impressive, considering that the Great Depression is generally considered to have ended in 1939, only 7 years after FDR became president.
Which is also hard to believe, as saying FDR's actions lengthened the depression by 7 years, and having the great depression only last 7 years into his term, implies had he not been elected, the great depression would have been over and done with in '32. Which seems optimistic at best.
@@Yognaughto100% a lot of people ignore that it was republicans who started the Great Depression and people voted for FDR who came in and helped greatly with his new deal policies
I think he's making a mistake though. I don't know of a single content creator that touches politics like this that hasn't collapsed completely into the safety of one corner or the other. It'll be especially bad for a guy like him who is probably a moderate due to the fact that only partisans attract an audience with a fervor willing to defend the creator from the other partisans. Centrists are loved by no one.
@@morty908 Fortunately VTH is quite level headed and if its starts to get like that, I can see him just calling it and moving back to strictly history. It really is a shame that to be seen as a moderate, or someone who considers ideas before finding a position is somehow a negative or apparently means they don't stand for anything.
@@morty908 History centric creators might be a notable exception. From what I've seen so long as the channel maintains its focus on History and only passingly touches politics from time to it can maintain a reasonably respectful community.
Growing up in Italy in the 90s and 2000s, my (and my family's) main complaint at the time was that there were too many parties and nothing would ever get done because of coalitions that couldn't agree on big issues. Moving to the UK in the late 00s with its 2-party system was a breath of fresh air. I agree with you that we need a more nuanced approach, but I would only want it implemented in a way that actually works and moves a country forward.
@@nickclark5023 People are more nuanced than "A or B", which is what a 2 party system leads to. It cannot possibly represent everyone well enough. Not sure how we could possible get more divided than where we are now with the current system. It's quite literally split us in half politically.
@@nickclark5023 Then why do all Republicans seem to fall "in line" so well with each other even when they have those nuances? It's them choosing party allegiance over their own opinions. They COULD form a new party that actually aligned with them or they can sell themselves out. It's a shame, really.
I’m very much not a conservative but I love how you keep to the effect on the country not necessarily just your ideas. I respect your ideas completely and that you allow yourself to accept people who don’t conform to just the more right leaning presidents and viewers. Good man here, good man.
It's amazing to see how people change their views on presidents depending upon what lens of time they are looking through. 20 years from now I wonder what people will think of Carter, Biden, Obama, Wilson and Trump.
something really interesting is the series of mediocre/bad presidents after polk leading up to lincoln and the civil war. taylor, fillmore, pierce, buchanan, you gotta think, what if we're witnessing something like that right now?
Obama will always been looked upon as a great President by liberal media and mainstream in general (undeserving however). GWB also has been generally looked upon as "ok" however both Bush and Obama's administration have severely expanded the NSA and mass media surveillance state which we will never be able to roll back. Most modern presidents have been absolutely abysmal in retrospect. The last "decent" president was Reagan and even then he was mediocre in many respects. The last good President was probably Eisenhower if you want to be very harsh on ratings.
@@PandemicGameplay Obama’s legacy is gonna depend heavily on ACA and if it gets expanded to full on government healthcare or just goes away in my opinion. GWB and Reagan were both guys who’s policy was hit or miss but were the right guys at the right time to lead through big issues. Dwight and Truman were probably the two best since WW2 if I had to pick.
Trump will be viewed negatively because we will be entering a new cold war with China, history will point to him to blame. Carter will probably be seen more positively.
@@wyatt430 ??? For the time his policies helped Americans around the country, and he also lead America through the biggest war in history, that doesn’t deserve an F tier Are you joking?
@@thetf8142 his policies did nothing but create tons of unelected fovernment positions that take about a third of your paycheck. The war is what got us out of the depression, not fdr.
@@wyatt430 Guess who was the leader of the country during ww2? And you have to put into context why fdr did what he did during the great depression, people dont like to look at that perspective. What he did is what was necessary during that time, theres no other way around it. He brought confidence to the american people during the worst economic crisis in US history. His contributions in ww2 alone take him out of F tier, let alone his contributions to support americans during the great depression. Its delusional to put him in F tier objectively, Ben Shapiro, and im guess your tier list have heavy amounts of bias within them, not saying FDR is an S tier president, but to say hes an F tier president is laughable at best.
@@thetf8142 Are you saying it's us joining WW2 was thanks to FDR? Anyway, I'm not saying what he did wasn't justified at the time. However, three letter agencies are the worst things to happen to the United States, and there's only one guy to blame for those.
2 years later and I’m here to ask a sincere question… I have a different political bias to you - I’d consider myself a liberal/progressive, and I don’t stand behind small government when it comes to economic policy (primarily because I think there are too many self-interested parties in a capitalist system that by definition sees too many people left behind), but I am for small government when it comes to social policy. More philosophically, I’m always going to be in favour of moving the way society is going and potentially “fixing” things as we learn, rather than pushing against the winds of change and conserving what we already have. I enjoyed this video of yours, and the yardstick I hear you keep coming back to is “were they good for the country?” I’m old enough to have lived through Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden - so I can’t comment much on those before them. The sense I get is that history will look the most fondly, out of those 4, on Biden. I have lots of reasons why, but I might spare them for another post/comment. (I should also say that I never buy into the idea that there is a straight line between a government and a nation’s economy - heck, look at Australia where they have a left-wing government and they’ve been suffering greatly from inflation for 2 years, as the rest of the world has - a consequence of necessary COVID-era cash injections everywhere + disrupted supply chains post invasion of Ukraine + other factors.) If I ask myself your question - “were they good for the country?” - I don’t understand how Trump can rate above a D, especially as I sit here in 2024. He’s not bright (again, given my perspective on economics I can’t attribute much economic prosperity to him - mostly luck of timing if anything); he undermines democracy (at home and abroad given his anti-NATO rhetoric and cosying up to Putin); he reinforces racial divides and racist dog whistles (a through line of every Presidency that history looks down on); he pours fuel on the fire of misinformation & disinformation (a threat which has only continued to level up, almost exponentially, since his time in power); he completely bungled COVID-19, leading to one of the very highest relative death rates amongst Western developed nations; and he represents a conservative side of politics that has become the party of big government (banning books, curtailing reproductive freedom, etc). And what’s more, he’s driven politics to a place where USA feels weaker chiefly because one party has calcified so much - you talk about the history of American politics making room for a range of ideologies in each party… today, the Democrats have the backing of both AOC and Cheney; I can’t see something like that in the future of the GOP. So, with 2 years of observation and analysis on your side since you created this video, how would you rate Trump’s presidency today? How would you rate Biden’s (though we should maybe give it another 3-5 years)? And would your rating of Bush and Obama change at all?
This is a fantastic analysis. From the point of view of a liberal, I have a lot of respect for your objective/academic point of view on all of these presidents. Really great stuff, I learned a lot.
@@patrickc3419 oh cool, seems like you two are nice and respectful to eachother! It would be a shame if some third party started a war in the replies... 😈
One of the most unfortunate things we do in America is try to view historical figures and actions through not only the lens of today but the outcomes we know today. Its really difficult to say FDR s policies alone were so damaging to now because a lot of people manipulated, changed and modified those policies between then and now. I have learned to dismiss this pervasive attitude of something that a president did 80 years ago that impacted today that we should blame that or shame that person when at the time he was wildly popular and just simply not living that experience and not really knowing or reflecting on the other potential solutions.
FDR's policies being damaging is debatable as well. He was probably the most popular president of any era except Washington. Many of the policies enacted such as social security clearly achieved their goals long after its inception. A quick look at the poverty rate amongst the elderly through the years since its inception shows that it worked objectively not subjectively. And he was a hell of a war time president. Republicans just hate that the best president since the modern era began was a democrat. In hindsight I hate that we imprisoned Japanese. But then again NONE of us have ever lived in a TOTAL WAR. I am judging from a very convenient position.
@@brennangum6236 I understand that it was the Dept of the Army that insisted on detaining mostly West Coast Japanese citizens......FDR was pretty egalitarian..I am not sure he was fully behind such a move.
In high school I thought FDR and his new deals were terrific. That's what I had been taught. Then I hit college and classes which were much more in depth and realized how much I had been lied to. One major problem with FDR is the fact he wasn't so great early, but was a good war President. We have this notion of dealing with things in extremes, either good or bad. I feel they don't want to make FDR look bad because of WW2. It detracts from what happened there, so they cover it by saying what he did before the war was also good.
Chris: I want to avoid controversy about modern politics so I'll avoid talking about topics after 1990, and most political figures before 1980. Also Chris: EDIT: Hope you and your wife had a great time on that cruise! 😅
More like he wants to talk politics, but is trying to avoid anyone disagreeing with him because 'he's just a history guy'. Classic Motte and Bailey argument.
I actually like this. Even though it does ultimately come down to personal opinion, I think it’s cool to see somebody’s opinion on modern politics when they have such a deep understanding of history. Politics these days has basically zero concern for history.
While I agree with most of Ben's rankings I think it's really weird we don't have a D tier. Also you came from a much more moderate perspective than Ben does. Good on you for calling out some of the hypocrisy. I like Ben but sometimes he fails to see things from a broader perspective.
In regards to the ranking system lacking the “D” option: I’m fairly certain this template is using the Japanese grading system (or at least, the version of it made popular by anime and video games). My best guess as to *why* it’s using this version is that the “ranking things by tier list” thing started as a meme.
@@fatetwister This. Considering that there is the ability to rename the categories, add categories and even change the colours, yet he couldnt find it...
The moment when you realized Ben Shapiro’s politics are very inconsistent was actually amusing to me. We all knew where he would come down on his rankings and it’s not like there was anyone with him who could push back like you did. Your responses were very reasonable
Inconsistencies are not always a bad thing. I'm not fan of Ben Shapiro but at the every least Inconsistencies are indicators of someone who might understand how nuanced some ideologies are. I try to be consistent because it's important for other understanding my intent but if I'm wrong I would like to hope I'm man enough to admit that and make the changes necessary in short order.
@@808INFantry11X I agree with that, sometimes people get too attached to their principles when sometimes you need to drop them to make the best decision. For example Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana purchase even though it was against his principles, because he knew it was the right decision. However I don't think that applies to ben here, his inconsistencies are more a result of being a partisan hack
@@808INFantry11X it depends on what the inconsistencies are. We’re not talking about mistakes he made in the past, you’re right, evolving on issues is important, we’re talking about positions that are contradicting each other for the same reason. His inconsistencies came from “This guy is more conservative (or believes in lesser powers for the executive branch) I will ignore what he did. This guy is liberal (or alright with a more expansive government) I will say what he did is bad. Even if those things are the same (or similar)
@@reeseseater12 , you will find inconsistencies where you lack understanding on principle. You're making the same assumption that Ben ranked Jefferson highly despite his expansionist policy while ranking Teddy lower BECAUSE of his expansionist tendencies. The truth is Ben criticized both of them for the same thing, but ranked Jefferson higher because of his agreement with the outcomes of Jefferson's presidency. He ranked Teddy lower because of his disagreement with the outcomes of Teddy's presidency. His expansionist tendencies comment was simply another thing added to the list. In reality Ben simply disliked Teddy's power grab and precedence with federal government intervention in the free market.
@@solusgamer164 I understood what he was saying but he still weighed the same thing differently depending on who he was judging and didn't look at them of the context of their times and situations. That is still inconsistent and like previously stated, in the video and comments, his rankings were based solely on his political leaning first, historical context second
Seeing you react to this gave me a lot of respect for you and hope honestly. I’m a California democrat and it’s nice to hear that despite celebrity’s and politicians trying to put us one vs the other that most Americans can look at things outside perspective and find common ground. Thank you for a great video and an honest open perspective
@@robertortiz-wilson1588 What a response. Person types a thoughtful comment and you immediately attack him with some dumb partasian talking point. Just stfu and put that on some CNN fb comment page and not here.
@@robertortiz-wilson1588 What the hell man, your name is hispanic in origin you know? People didn’t like your kind either, and wanted them not to move to their state, how can you say such a thing to someone else?
As a politically liberal person, it’s refreshing to hear someone outly politically conservative speak about politics in a way that doesn’t make me want to rip my hair out. (This goes for a lot of outly politically liberal people as well)
Ik, he considers multiple sides, and views presidents not on their party but on their platforms, actions, and character. It’s a refreshing way to see politics and history being discussed. It almost drowns out the Ben Shapiro
Yea, a liberal I am not, but neither am I a conservative, I just started watching and I really hope I like this channel. History is not right or left, it’s just what happened, the people in history might be right or left… or not… was Ramses a lefty? Maybe the mongol hoards were right? I’m not sure how to judge that, I might like to know what experts think, but I’m uninterested in pundits slanting the history of the US, it only distorts things for everyone that doesn’t dive deep and learn, let’s be honest, no one wants to dive deep and learn about this anyway, play mobile games and yell on Twitter , go to bed, work, eat repeat.
To be honest as a very very liberal individual idk why i clicked on this video when youtube recommended it to me but i came out extremely relieved to hear this guy’s takes. I’m born and raised in Lancaster, PA( if you know anything about it you know it’s a big Republican stronghold) and have always been interested in history. This guy reminded me of all of my amazing history teachers in high school who almost all disagreed with me on modern policy but only told the facts when it came to history whether it be good or bad. We’re all gonna have our own biases but history doesn’t and it’s crazy to deny that Presidents like FDR didn’t progress our country exponentially. Ike is one of my favorite presidents even though he almost certainly would disagree with most of my stances because i believe he truly tried to do what was best for the American people. Anyways all that to say thank you for giving me a little hope in this world 😅
@@luckydiamond77 I had to google Eisenhower real quick just to check because I didn't know what Ike meant either because I thought of the initials DDE for Dwight David Eisenhower and I found that Ike is a nickname Eisenhower had, I'd say I should know this but that's probably because I only just found VTH yesterday and also because I'm not american
I don't think you know what the word "exponentially" means. And also he didn't do squat to progress the country. He set in place a terrible legacy, making America into a welfare state. His New Deal programs did NOT do a THING for the great depression, it was only mobilization for WWII that did that, all they did was set in place the conditions that would progress until the US had a national debt of 25 trillion dollars nearly a century later. He completely changed the role of the US government, changed America, and for the worse.
Great job. Balanced, knowledgeable and fair. I think it shows maturity to recognize and park your biases. I wish that more political discourse in the US had this trait.
As a conservative, I love this. You do a great job separating politics from history. I'd love to see you react to someone who is pretty liberal, just to see how they compare
It is very refreshing to see a guy who can be so nice while respecting so much another person’s opinion (while criticizing in a civil manner), and who tries to be as objective as humanly possible. I love this channel
Eisenhower absolutely needs to be higher in the tier list. The interstate project alone should get him to B tier. Everyone sleeps on the interstate and don’t realize how huge of an economic role it plays in the country.
As some one who loves going on road trips. I agree. These are the kind of initiatives which shape the future of a country and lay the template for the world.
And the St Lawrence Seaway...cont forget that during the Ike years....but his overthrow of a duly elected Iranian govt and the imposition of the Shah probably hurt us in the long run.....he was also the first to tangle in Viet Nam, and dont know if he could have taken a stronger Anti Stalinist stance re: Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc...
Except that interstate system also came at the expense on a number of pre-dominantly black and other minority communities that were torn down to make space for that interstate. So even though we can (and maybe(?) should) applaud Eisenhower for the Interstate system, much as we applaud FDR, we also need to acknowledge how the successes of their term came at the cost of displacing thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people from their homes and communities.
Truman desegregated the Armed Forced by executive order IN AN ELECTION YEAR knowing that it would probably cost him re-election. I think that says it all about his character and why he deserves an A.
@VonAllen History generally speaking, conservatives have been losing the long game for centuries, so as time goes on, it tends to go left. That racism is no longer publicly acceptable shows how much the Overton window has moved since 1800.
@@unknownguy-le1hr no way the video creator's left wing. He was a creampuff on Trump, like Shapiro, overlooking, among other things, that Trump was the primary instigator of an insurrectionist riot that was the first large scale attack on Capitol Hill since the British in 1812.
@@unknownguy-le1hr Trump himself is not actually super conservative with his policies. Being an anti-Trumper doesn’t make someone far left. It’s usually just a person who believes everything the media says.
For those complaining that I'm reacting to Ben's list (which is, btw, the point of this video) rather than giving my own reasons and rankings for everything...it's because I've already done that, twice. Once on my own - th-cam.com/video/zzvokaQk9YE/w-d-xo.html and once in a 4 hour stream with Mr. Beat - th-cam.com/video/UAUg6y2UX88/w-d-xo.html
How would you rate his list?
That collaboration with Mr. Beat was terrific! I may agree more with that list than this one, but it’s still nice to hear from Ben’s perspective.
I respect Shapiro a lot and I could say I agree most of the things he believes in, however there is a reason why I chose to watch your tier list video on US presidents over his. I think when someone is used to such a polarized, political environment the person in question will be more resistant to view the other side in a positive way. I like that you have your moral standards and that you're also willing to at least learn and hear out differing opinions. A great example of a student of history.
Why use Ben Shapiro as a model? Anyone who give FDR and F when he literally created the middle class, gave us SS and the New Deal and oh defeated fascism, winning WW2 and finally being elected 4 times as President is a fool and an ideologue to the extreme.
And Trump is no where near the Woodrow Wilson’s and Buchanan category, really? The guy lost an election and committed sedition to over turn the election he lost and refused to accept defeat and do a peaceful transfer of power. Sedition is domestic treason, he’s a dictator wanna be and he was a terrible President.
The big problem with judging very recent presidents from recent history is that we never get to see their long term impacts, thus making it impossible to fully judge them.
Two words; Gas prices. People feeling the impact of the Biden administration
@@evanbell7825 he has had very little effect on gas prices, how many times do people need to disprove you guys? The only effect he would have is sanctions against Russian oil. Trump actually signed a deal with OPEC to not produce oil at full capacity back in 202”, that deal is still in effect so trump has more blame than Biden.
@@evanbell7825 Gas prices like the stock market a president is wise to not take the credit nor the blame. Unfortunately the peanut gallery is not all that intelligent.
@@startledmilk6670 I guess I am confused on this. Didn't Biden put restrictions on domestic oil which you think would have an impact on supply and thus price?
@@anafrinil6310 no he stopped the keystone pipeline deal but that wouldn't do anything now because it would've been a few years before the pipeline was operational.
I enjoy how you can separate history from politics in certain ways. I feel like it is important to use history to inform politics, but imposing modern politics on what already happened is trying to square a circle a bit.
100% agree its rare to see
No way you’re serious LOL
Agree, it's really annoying when people talk about history with today's morals and standards.
@@demi3115 There are times when it's appropriate. Like, we call agree enslaving people = bad, so judging people like Washington and Jefferson for literally owning human beings is alright with me. However, history doesn't happen in a vacuum. Everything needs to be taken into context.
Yeah the world as I see it is far too complex to see everything through simply a political mindset
I’m 10 minutes in, and I am a Fan, my dude. Hearing a conservative who can be so neutral and not “anti-liberal” is a relief to hear, honestly.
M@Leo Espinoza: Agreed. Now if only we could find a dem who could be neutral, & not anti-conservative! (I didn't use the term ' liberal', bcs I'm an ex- dem, & consider myself a liberal conservative, as he mentioned).
Be nice to see a similar minded liberal
We need more people closer to the center in reality
Those people exist. You don’t hear from them more because a) their voices aren’t deemed popular by the algorithm and b) because Leftists and moderate Liberals are tired of having to explain themselves so they’ve abandoned the conversation, too in love with decency to endure the toxicity of far right rhetoric and not passionate or angry enough to get on a pulpit to defend their principles. Instead they stay quiet at home as Conservatives win the culture war.
@@suraya1224 we’re out here…keep looking! We understand that the moment demands different approaches (eg there is a time for conservatism and a time for progressivism)
@@Duval-In-The-Wall there’s a few out there. Harold Ford Jr. first comes to mind
Teddy Roosevelt as a D is a crack smoking opinion.
Literally, all the natural conservation stuff alone makes him B at minimum
For real. That is wild. Dude is one of the least controversial presidents of all time. He did amazing things and everyone agrees that they were good things. Because of Teddy we can go to the grocery store and buy some meat without getting botulism one in five times. Because of Teddy we have the national parks.
I agree that the Trust Busting didn't have the intended effect, but I think MOST people agree that price fixing is wrong and that the government should step in to stop monopolies. Teddy gets credit for trying, even if it didn't work the way he wanted it to.
@@gregortheoverlander4122 dude you can't forget about the internment camps. That alone puts him down to C tier.
I'm not saying F tier or even D. Let's settle for C, because he did lots of good things but those internment camps are such a high moral travesty you can't ignore that.
@@gregortheoverlander4122 and the internment camps were an executive order as well. So it was definitely his fault.
@@HelloThere..... Sir, we are talking about Teddy Roosevelt, not FDR.
I love how Ben just completely glosses over Reagan's drug war, one the most destructive policy decisions in all of American History
And how he cause thousands of deaths by ignoring the AIDS epidemic
@@elisabetfranklin1246 Both of those factors in my opinion are more than enough to knock him out of A tier
@@elisabetfranklin1246 And the iran contra affair
Ben probably agrees with that though, he’s a faux libertarian
@@mrgaudy1954 Shaprio is not a libertarian and in no way claims to be. Mind you i have no clue what faux means and niether does google when i look up faux libertarian. But hell, on the libertarian test, which is supposed to make you a libertarian, Ben barely was and anwsered qeustions like banning porn.
I think the problem with Wilson being so highly thought of is that in school we really only hear about him leading us through ww1, 14 points, and the 19th amendment. Simply looking at that, Wilson sounds pretty good but we never learn much more about Wilson. I loved history throughout high school but I never knew how atrocious Wilson was until much later
I think there is also part of each party trying to make their Presidents look better. Both sides do it with Presidents that were horrible in their parties. So in this situation we get democrats that just try to show the good things and hide the bad. If Presidents from back in the day didn’t have party labels then people would actually have to learn what policies each President had and make their opinion off that info instead of just picking the republican or democrat just because.
@@harrisonbaylor1432 thats so true, and honestly party values have shifted so much that the democratic party that Grover Cleveland was a part of was wildly different from that of say Jimmy Carter
School only teaches u the basics unfortunately
Yeah that’s absolutely true I never knew how bad he really was until I saw mr beat and vlogging through history
And that's why you read more
I tell my students that projecting a political ideology onto history makes for terrible history. Modern politics should be informed by history; history shouldn't be (really can't be) informed by modern politics. I love that you look through history with an attempt to account for your political perspective. I wish we were all more like that.
How about that 1619 project?
@@dbsti3006 The 1619 project doesn't have a political bias, it was made bias free and then the idiots politicized it. It expounds the truth, and if you disagree, you're objectively wrong. This isn't a matter of debate, there are some questions with correct answers
@@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868 How is it bias free when they're making slavery mistakes the basis, and front and center of the entire founding of this country? Most people understand it as history, but also understand that you have to move on from your mistakes and not make them again. You're not gonna sit here and tell me this isn't a political move to benefit one side, when two years ago, Marxist college students were tearing down civil war statues and desecrated a veteran war memorial on the very basis that since the 1619 project started, it's already in the classrooms making white people feel guilty of things that happened years ago. Now these misled 1619 angstful white people go and destroy the very history that reminds us to not make mistakes again. Who are you kidding guy? That 1619 project is 100% left wing lunacy to the core. If you're left wing, then of course you're not gonna find an issue with it. If you're a free thinker, you'd understand what I'm trying to tell you.
@@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868 The 1619 project creates a perpetual state of division and anger. It takes away their ability to achieve on their own and instead demand that they are always owed something because their ancestors were slaves. Yeah. We get that. They were once slaves. Fine. But this movent is pulling society backwards into a serious problem. The author of the writings is Nicole Hannah Jones. She is a very open and shameless Marxist. So yeah, you can't get more biased than that.
@@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868 so you didn't have much of an argument or what?
I really enjoyed this. As a Brit, I still feel a bit in the dark about the ins and outs of US politics. I know the names of the presidents, but not nearly enough about the details of their terms. One thing I really notice is how easy it is to form a sort of passive opinion of a figure from history; an opinion which often changes when one really digs into the details. Thank you for an informative and balanced video.
As a fellow brit who lived there for 7 years, please take Shapiro's opinions with the smallest grain of salt in the shaker. He's an extremely stubborn right wing figure. I can give one example alone that promotes Obama well above the F tier. Obama care. I was there at the time and he was the only president who attempted to tackle health care costs in that country in any real way. Although its not a single payer system it's a vast improvement. That's before we get into the cultural impact of being the first black President and what that means to America. I can go on but mention those things as I think they're objective
@@brandoncockerill6183first black president did zero for the black communities he was garbage I’m not trying to disrespect you Just heavily disagree he wasn’t a good president he also loved war dropped the most bombs in a calendar year Inflation was high gas was high he didn’t do much and loved war
@@brandoncockerill6183The ACA was a legitimately terrible plan. People that sing its praises are either too young to remember what insurance was like before, or weren't living here before the ACA was implemented. It banned cross-state exchanges, raised premiums and deductibles, caused millions to lose their primary care physicians, and was nothing but a giant handout to the insurance companies since their chief lobbyist helped write it. Not to mention the 10,000,000 people that lost their coverage and had it replaced by an inferior, more expensive product. Then they had the audacity to say the were giving "refunds" to people that were overcharged in the form of a 2% discount on a premium that had increased 10-20% in a year.
I’m an American - and I love. Nigel Farage , Douglas Murray and Katie Hopkins - also God Bless Enoch Powell and Princes Diana
@@brandoncockerill6183 Delightfully, the precise reason healthcare costs are so high is Reagan, whom he so unquestioningly slammed in the A tier. The US had pretty reasonable medicine policies and prices in 1980, and Reagan's crusade against regulation set up insurance companies as privileged middlemen devoid of any actual responsibilities. In practice, insurance companies became policy-setters for all things medical, and now have more of a say in how medicine is practiced than doctors or medical boards. Obamacare is a tiny band-aid on the absolute gaping wound Reagan inflicted on the US. It's great and all, but it's not nearly enough.
I gotta say that my biggest issue with Ben Shapiro’s ranking is FDR. You said it perfectly with how Ben undersold FDR’s leadership through WW2. It was a huge deal and he led us very well through it and deserves to be ranked much higher for it alone.
We're u alive during ww2
@@hazardbros2841 don't even. That argument is pointless.
@@hazardbros2841 what type of idiotic argument is that? That's like saying that you can't have an opinion on Hitler as you weren't alive in WW2. If anything, someone who was not around back then is a better judge of history as they are not subject to bias nearly as much.
Yeah and a lot of Ben's points are contentious at best. For instance about FDR, he claims that FDR extended the great depression by as much as 8 years and portrays that as a fact when in reality it's a high debated point and I personally find it hard to believe. I can't see the US getting out of the great depression by 1933, just 4 years after it started when most other western nations had to wait until WW2 to get out of it. Although Britain is a bit of an exception, nations like France, Canada, and Australia weren't our of the Great Depression until 1939 when their war time economy helped recover their economies. I don't think 1 study is enough support to say with certainty that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression.
He just seems very biased and trying to sweep FDR's leadership throughout WW2 under the rug makes him very hard to trust.
@@shaunlevin5081 well that history some people have very different opinions on stuff
And only the very very worst or best change
I am a left leaning individual (largely independent) but I really respect your way of conversing political ideology. Civility and not hostility is always the way to go about discussing ideology. Thank you sir.
I agree, I’m also left leaning (though I’ll vote for whoever is upholding freedom and what I see as American values) but I think it’s really unfortunate and sad that we’ve lost a lot of that civility in our society with how the extremes tend to dominate (or at least speak the loudest) conversations/topics like this
@@JoeyPastrami I'd say I'm more right leaning but have a gigantic level of respect for a person on the opposing side that can engage is civil discourse instead of calling me racist, homophobic or sexist with no grounds to call me that
@Ryan Hickman, in your same boat
@@ryanhickman3335 I mean if you vote Republican in the US they have grounds to call you that lmao.
@@connorbranscombe6819 firstly I'm not from the US. Secondly if I was I would vote republican instead of Joe biden next election
One of the best instances I’ve seen of taking on a very controversial, political topic and not laying into your biases, nor ignoring them. Just a really phenomenal attempt at objectivity. Really hope this channel continues to grow because it is well deserved
Global financial collapse is being engineered by the agents of satan/nwo to bring about great reset. They want to collapse the dollar and wipe out everyone's finances to make them hungry and desperate enough to buy into their nwo system and recieve the coming mark of beast on hand or forehead. Without this no man can buy or sell. Revelation 13. New world order led by obama and pope francis is coming. Police state/martial law coming soon. Quarantine centers aka concentration camps will be activated around the world from this covid agenda. America will be invaded by russia and china in near future thanks to treasonous us govt. Repent and seek jesus christ for salvation.
@@daebak7370 what's wrong with you bro how are you not banned?
Not really. This isn’t strictly history this is ranking US presidents, and the quality of a president is measured by their ability to uphold american ideals. Never in my life will I ever say someone who took three terms, conspired over pearl harbor, did nothing preemptive about communism and fascism, hurt the economy prolonging the great depression, put japanese and italians in camps, etc. etc. is ever a quality president from any ideology much less a pro american one. So the fact that a historian can look at a president like FDR with rose colored glasses shows a biases much more ludicrous than Shapiro’s own dishonest one.
@@daebak7370 LMFAO nice troll
You cultivated my exact thoughts I was trying to convey as I went to the comment section. Completely in agreement.
Teddy roosevelt is an A tier for me, mostly for his conservation and creating a pathway for modern wildlife conservation aswell as promoting outdoor recreation.
Yessss
Teddy is probably my #1 favorite, at the very least he's in my top 3. Bro would literally box his political opponents
He also established the FDA and carved the Panama Canal.
But then why not B or C tier? Because you can't just judge on one thing.
@@HelloThere..... he ended the russo-japanese war🤷♂️
So highly refreshing to hear some simple disagreements and pleasant talking points for once. The internet is just usually a nightmare on politics.
Fax
Its more so accepting tbe fact of truth and lies.
Some don't want their delusions destroyed so they turn into a feminist cycstgendered transgender elephant
@@thedarkriddler7318 you are part of the problem.
@@thedarkriddler7318 you’re so far gone ☠️
@@spraynard9529 part of which problem? Because I dont bend over for people's delusional because they are brainwashed and manipulated by social media so they need to transition to various different invented genders and they share it on social media for self validation... no mate, you are far gone if you believe all that is normal
This is why i love your channel man you don't let your political biases determine how good or bad a president was. You truly deserve all the recognition you're getting.
the biases a person has are always implicated in everything they say or do but I agree that he tries to avoid it as much as possible
@@dolorouspenguin6906 not to mention is very open on his political views and you can definitely see he does fight those ideas and say those ideas definitely helped the country even if they were his political views
He’s said many times he does have biases that determine his opinions. Anyone who pretends to be unbiased is lying. What makes him great is he always acknowledges his bias.
@@bruhmingo I am the coolest person ever, I'm never biased.
Right, and he tries to temper his biases. Shapiro, on the other hand, seems to embrace his biases and only view history through that lens
Also, as an aside, it’s pretty cool to see an historian who leans conservative disagree with Shapiro, who is really just a hardcore ideologue, and why. In the age of modern media, which rewards people like Shapiro, it’s nice to be reminded that the bulk of conservatives are actually reasonable people too.
Yeah, I think it's easy for people on either side to start thinking that the majority of people think and act like the really loud people on social media. Most of us on both sides are much more reasonable than that.
So Shapiro is unreasonable in your opinion?
“civilian deaths fine by me” - real quote from Shapiro
@@beangobernador Citation please.
@@beangobernador Sounds out of context too. Please provide a citation as well as the context :D
"F should be reserved for the worst of the worst."
While wearing an F lol.
Ben is an F
@@Idevaughan530Facs
@@Idevaughan530 conservative bad
@@natef1212 unironically true
@@natef1212
No. Ben bad.
As a leftist who does not like Ben Shapiro, I appreciate your unbiased look at this as a conservative. You realize that people can be conservative or be progressive and not agree with every thing other ppl in that group say.
Video is good, comment section is rough lol
>leftist
Agreed
@@austro1675 ok and?
Same here. I tried my best to avoid this video but the youtube algorithm kept pushing it on me. Im so glad I watched it. This solidified in my mind that Chris is fundamentally a very reasonable person, regardless of political disagreements I have.
Ben Shapiro: Obama is F Tier because he created a lasting divide in American Politics
Also Ben Shapiro: **puts Trump in B tier**
Edit: Came back 8 months later and what have I created
Well, you've got to understand that Shapiro is a measly, whinny, ultra-right conservative who would love to destroy our system of government and replace it with a Trump autocracy, who seems to be a mix of Hitler, El Duce, and Hugh Hefner.
Trump is arguably the most polarizing president except perhaps Jackson
Right
Trump did good until he had is little riot thing
But Trump didn't create the divide, the media attacked him from day 1 and he is just a New Yorker so he defends himself. Every time I hear "Trump did or said this" I look it up and it's taken way out of context. Like the good people on both sides (he said except the white supremacists who he condemns totally) drink bleach (he didn't say drink bleach he was talking about research being done on a disinfecting light, because not all disinfectants are bleach) the capital crap (he said go and peacefully/patriotically protest and this wasn't to overturn the election, this was to send the votes back to the states that were having issues and fix the issues).
I do enjoy how you separated the politics from the history here. I feel like this needs to be done more in our society because it’s ridiculous how bad it’s gotten in recent years
You literally just copied the top comment and changed the second half
He didn't, he just inserted his own politics and stated that they were unbiased.
This entire comment is kind of silly. Politics has always been ugly. Washington was the last time Americans were 100% in agreement. Political smear campaigns began immediately after. Lifelong friends Jefferson and Adams came to hate each other due to the ugly elections at that time. Then became best of friends again.
Daily Wire is a conservative opinion show
@@HAL-vc3of ikr I don’t know why people don’t get that all of daily wire is about politics
How anyone can ever think Ben Shapiro is an intellectual is beyond me. He's very simplistic in his rhetoric and reasoning.
He would have you looking like a fool in 1.2 seconds. Please...
@@Maverick_682 sure thing boot licker.
its because he speaks fast and says "facts dont care about your feelings" while he literally turns arounds and makes the facts care about his feelings by misrepresenting them or just outright lying about them. Ben Shapiro is a charlatan who has made a career off of "debating" teenagers and young adults as a 30+ year old.
@@Maverick_682 yeah coz Ben would just spout fast word salad and everyone would think he's won.
@@theslugboiii5969alright let's see you debate him then lmao
I really like that you're able to separate your ideology from discussion and focus solely on policies and presidents. It really shows that you're someone who doesn't tell people what to think but how to think.
Lol, he just said himself that rhey shouldnnot be judged by their policies..😂
full bias aside, I think Polk is a largely under-rated president. He did everything he promised to do, which is something that should be highly admired.
Are you serious? The jackass that started the mexican american war? He can barely be underrated even in a comparison to Hitler. And he got approval for the war through deception.
And just did one term like promise. But… slavery issue.
Polk is ok but he gets really bad marks by most historians because of how he got us into the Mexican American War.
I don’t agree with Polk’s politics, but I love how he had 4 goals, did the 4 goals in 1 term, didn’t run for a second term, and died 16 months after leaving office
@@fuzzyglory
Your comment can be kinda confusing but are you also glad Polk died just 16mths after leaving office? Lol that's how it reads.
As someone who leans left, you seem sane and reasonable, and I appreciate that. I don't agree with all of your takes, but you seem markedly more unbiased than many in recent years.
There was a time where politics were far less polarized, where even though I disagreed with most right wing politicians, I still respected them. I miss that. Viewing people within my own country as "the enemy" really is the worst feeling.
You are a legend! You are able to cut the ties between History and Politics, expose the fantastical show that history is, and the crazy show that is modern politics. You deserve any kind of award for your work
Totally agree with you on this.
Ben Shapiro playing down liberal presidents greatest feats and just throwing them in F tier is comedy lmao. "only good thing FDR did was his leadership in the biggest war in human history"
Dude his video on Barbie has irrevocably changed the way I see him. He’s another man baby that throws a tantrum because he can’t comprehend the idea that not everything has to adhere to those “Perfect Western Values”. He’s ironically one of the biggest snowflakes ever.
And he puts Bush OUTSIDE F tier
Its hypocritical because Ben would be signing Winston Churchill's praises for his leadership during WW2 simply because Churchill was a Conservative. Both Churchill and FDR's wartime leadership is the strongest aspect of their legacies and should be rightly praised. Even if you disagree with FDR's policies, putting him in F-tier is laughable.
@@legendarywiimaster Bush is C
He blames Obama for the debt while Reagan increased the debt way more than Obama on a percentage basis and Trump increased the debt almost as much as Obama but in 4 fewer years (Obama $7.6 Trillion to Trump's $6.7 Trillion). In fact Obama raised the debt less than Bush on percentage basis. The Republicans that bracketed Obama made the debt worse than Obama but Shapiro blames deficit spending on Obama. Just pure fiction. In the end Shapiro is simply a propagandist with no rational thoughts and that means he will be full of hypocrisy. It's barely worth discussing what he thinks.
it was very pleasant listening to your balanced responses to the guy's opinions. your ability to focus on the historical perspective must make you a great teacher. liked this a lot!
Global financial collapse is being engineered by the agents of satan/nwo to bring about great reset. They want to collapse the dollar and wipe out everyone's finances to make them hungry and desperate enough to buy into their nwo system and recieve the coming mark of beast on hand or forehead. Without this no man can buy or sell. Revelation 13. New world order led by obama and pope francis is coming. Police state/martial law coming soon. Quarantine centers aka concentration camps will be activated around the world from this covid agenda. America will be invaded by russia and china in near future thanks to treasonous us govt. Repent and seek jesus christ for salvation.
@@daebak7370 save it for church and late night televangelist programs, nobody asked about your religion. Nobody likes copy/pasted spam anyways
If Ben could be remotely intellectually honest I could almost respect the guy. He probably is intelligent, but he's so mired in his political bias that he just comes off like a fool.
@@ataridc how is he not an “intellectual”? He always explains his opinions in depth, looks at things from a factual view point and challenges leftists ideas. Leftist ideas are pretty bad and dangerous for society. You calling him “not an intellectual” is just ignorance. You don’t deserve to speak with no facts, so don’t at me, I don’t get notifs.
@@ataridc bruh the guy explained he's going off his political opinion not historically. He doesn't agree with the politics that were passed and how they effected it. While the historian was explaining how it was good for the time..... Stop being a Lefty who only looks for a gotcha moment. Grow up.
Bro was literally about to put JFK in B tier until he realized JFK was a Democrat
Why would JFK be high up, he didn’t do anything except almost destroy the world?
Pretty sure he's well aware Kennedy was a democrat. Unfortunately, he wasn't President long enough to be anything higher than C tier. And had he lived, Vietnam would've weighed heavily on his legacy.
@@Floridaman1780_ what about the cuban missile crisis, what about the US space program, what about the civil rights stuff, what about the nuclear test ban treaty??? All really important and big things that should automatically grant him either A or B tier, its not he like he wasnt in office for less than a year
@@amoryerenhouse5535 what about the Cuban missile crisis? It never would've happened if not for Kennedy's blunder during the bay of pigs. Go ask any first generation Cuban America what it was like living under Castro's thumb for ☓ amount of years and how great of a President they think Kennedy was. It was probably the biggest strategic blunder by any sitting president in American history up until Biden tucked tail and ran out of Afghanistan. Not toppeling Castro's government when we had the chance, and not following thru with air support that America promised the rebels, ensured hell for decades for Cuban citizens under Castro, and severely compromised the safety of U.S. citizens on American soil. And did you know JFK opposed the march on Washington D.C. where MLK delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech? If he had gotten his way, that speech never would've happened. And I wont even get into his extracurriculars. His assassination was a tragedy and brought the country together, but it causes people to view him as a much different President than he actually was.
@@amoryerenhouse5535 Cuban missile crisis, at least, was the result of fucking around with the Bay of Pigs invasion
as a left leaning individual, i loved this. very respectful, factual, and non biased take on this. thoroughly enjoyed this video and found myself learning a lot.
It’s always amazing when someone can do a non-biased review of a hyper partisan video. Especially when the partisan participant tries to role play as unbiased all the time lmfao,
How can you be a left leaning individual, leftism is all about collectivism? 😂
@@geezer7818 and herein lies the problem with "rightists". Always putting everyone they disagree with as exactly the same. (I am being sarcastic here) But seriously, someone saying they lean left doesn't mean they're now suddenly your version of every single "leftist" you imagine. In fact, the extreme left is a small minority. Just like the extreme right. They're very vocal minorities which is why you might think anyone that says they're more on the left would be that way, but it's wrong to think that.
@@dandotvid haha, I know mate I was just having a laugh.
@@dandotvid and leftists do the exact same as rightists btw, using the extremes to represent the majority.
Ben purposely didn't mention The Iraq War when talking about Bush since he was such a vocal supporter of it. That catastrophe alone makes Bush one of the worst presidents in American history.
He's Pro Israel of course he supports the invasion of Iraq
@@chibiemo100 and he's Jewish, so it makes sense he's pro-Israel
He also didn’t mention the AIDS crisis when talking about Reagan
@@IsaRican810 No mention of Iran-Contra happening under the Reagan administration is inexcusable as well.
It’s because Ben is a conservatard
You just earned a sub my friend. We need more unbiased historians. I can't really think of any on the top of my head
History teacher mr terry is unbiased too it a great way too look at things
My history teacher will find any progressive candidate in history and call him communist for example: Henry A. Wallace
@@juuzoucronastrange7321 also Mr. Beat
Everyone is biased in one way or another my friend. The virtue of a professional is to acknowledge the bias ;)
What I mean he Break it down in a unbiased way of course everyone has a opinion or doesn’t care
I really appreciate someone who can hold true to their values yet set it aside and look at things for what they are. Growing up with not many to discuss history with outside of the Internet, a few extra curriculum classes I had taken was one of the most refreshing and redeeming experiences as we openly discussed views civilly in a time that it was almost impossible to find outside of the classroom. I finally seen some faith in humanity 😅
I love this channel. This is like a safespace where people can discuss things in an educated manner, while also understanding biases. Really hard to find anywhere.
Its really refreshing to see someone just give a shit about what happened whether or not it aligns with their political philosophy. I think a secret part of American strength is how flexible and capable of adaptive our political structure has been to problems. Certain situations might require a stronger central government while others might benefit from a weaker one, neither one is superior to the other until context is applied, and context constantly changes.
@@davemarshall9322 it’s always meant that, problem is as with many other things, sensationalists demonized it. And turned it into some “liberal woo talk” when that’s not what it ever was.
Nerd
@Barack Obama, what’s your last name?
@@somehistorynerd
care
Obamacare
i wish more people had the same mindset of this guy-conservative or liberal, it’s about what’s best for the country, not what we as individuals may personally agree or disagree with
So liberal
@Aggromemnon nice flag
@@unbearablysmug2437 you're not funny
@@unbearablysmug2437 come on dude.
@@pleaseenteraname1103 r/woosh
There’s still time to change the title to “Historian DESTROYS Shapiro’s tier list with facts and logic.”
OWNED!!!
@@abrahamlincoln937 so?
@@abrahamlincoln937 That just says that Ben Shapiro is more popular and influential than VTH (Chris)
@@C0rruptionSilence Well Shapiro has been on TH-cam longer than Vlogging through History.
@@abrahamlincoln937 That still doesn't mean that he is right about anything.
Now I want Ben to upload, "Ben reacts to historian's reaction of Ben Shapiro's presidential tier list".
I believe when Ben Shapiro criticizes the "expansionism" of presidents, he is referring to the expansion of the federal government rather than expanding the country by adding states or territories to the union.
He shouldn't use words he doesn't understand. He's a columnist mascerading as an intellectual.
@@spa2damax words have more than one meaning. Maybe you should learn that before talking.
@@spa2damax What a Columnist?
Yet he put Lincoln that high. How is Lincoln not expanding the fed gov.
@@spa2damax lol *masquerade* Shapiro is a columnist, author, and an intellectual. Have you never seen any of his debates or seminars?
As a Czech, I can say that in my country Wilson is one of the most loved presidents of USA, mostly because thanks to his agitation at the Paris peace conference that helped create the independent state of Czechoslovakia. Even the capital of today's Slovakia has in 1919 declared itself a free city, named itself the Wilson's city and try to become part of the US.
Ano
it's so interesting to see which president are most loved in other countries, in Bosnia it's Bill Clinton
I think that Wilson was a mediocre president.
@@abrahamlincoln937 His racism is just so bad that I can’t look past it.
@@sirnetflix7162 Agreed, that is one of my criticisms of Wilson as president. I think that the positives and negatives of Wilson even out, which is why I think that he is a mediocre president.
One of the biggest mistakes of "war hawks" who never even put on a uniform is that they are so gung ho about going to war without realizing the cost. IKE was a soldier who saw first hand the horrors of war that motivated his progressive policies of peace (Sherman's quote "War is hell). As a conservative Kansan I proudly and understandably give Eisenhower a pass
It's not necessarily the case - plenty of generals become the "if all you have is a hammer" stereotype. But it's definitely a factor for the good ones.
For the commander-in-chief it's certainly a good attribute that he can say "I'm not asking you to do anything, that I haven't done myself".Truman and Eisenhower have a lot to answer for in how they acted when it turned out you can't trust the USSR... but they also had a damn good reason.
Do ur research on what Eisenhower did to the Congo. He single handedly murdered that country that was so full of promise. He was not a good man, but a greedy one
Yeah. It’s why I always thought George W Bush, “Bring ‘em on” statement to be annoying. This was a guy who dodged fighting the Viet Nam war, but could casually make those kind of statements when it involved other people’s lives. A coward.
@@sidiqabdul-kareem5544 Seeing as though the military draft is a morally and ethically questionable concept to begin with, and that the draft implemented for the Vietnam War was undeniably an immoral and unethical thing to do, how the hell do you square people saying, "Yea, I'm not fucking going to war because a bunch of politicians wanna make money and fucked over Ho Chi Min,"?
Honestly anyone who cares about people "draft dodging" are hypocrites at best. We're not talking about the idea of defending your own country from an invasion, we're talking about going thousands of miles away because politicians are greedy and stupid.
@@ThatFalloutGod
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I was just tying it with the “Bring ‘em on” comment by Bush.
"Washington and Lincoln in S tier, see? I'm being impartial and central! Right, next, all the democrats in F." 😂
You're talking as if Washington and Lincoln were democrats
@@haydeng3541Abraham Lincoln was a liberal who made one of the greatest leaps in civil rights and literally exchanged letters with Marx himself. Washington was a federalist, a party that leaned heavily towards a strong government and could be considered as the liberals of their time
@@haydeng3541 republicans in the 18th century were just democrats in the 21st.
I appreciate the Andrew Johnson hate. I feel that he often gets overlooked. Imo he is much worse than Buchanan was. I feel as though there’s no bigger traitor in presidential history. What an awful president
what did he do?
@@ThunderRod Strongly opposed Federal rights for Black Americans
@@raliamrani2803 oh
@@ThunderRod also his whole native American policy
Trump
New to the channel. I'm a fan now. I'm so annoyed by modern partisanship that I don't like to identify with any party; only specific issues. but I really appreciate your ability to see the whole picture.
Welcome, Curtis!
"I don't identify with any party but I'm gonna identify as someone who leans hard right" ok buddy. 👍
@@LarsVilksIsAwesome He never said that though.
Although it is true that most self-identified independents still lean at least slightly to the left or right
@@LarsVilksIsAwesome calm down Lars
Privileged white guy beloning to the ststus quo posturing about ideological purity.
The greatest teacher I've ever had was a history teacher at community college. It was 8 years ago now but sometimes I watch engaging history videos and it brings back the love of history that Mr. Brewer sparked in me through his passion and talents in communication. Thanks for making this.
What community college?
Okay?
A year later I'm seeing this comment and I have no idea why I wrote that essay. I was probably high or something.@@mageic7001
Mr. Brewer from MCC???
yeah@@88mphDrBrown
Him putting FDR as a F is laughable. As soon as I saw that I immediately thought he’s a joke
FDR was an F
If the conservatives like you were louder than the conservatives like Ben Shapiro (likewise on the left) our democracy would be in a much better place.
Agree completely.
@@VloggingThroughHistory Shapiro is an establishmentarian conservative which is why I don’t like him.
@@abrahamlincoln937 Agreed.
@@crusader2112 Hey, I remember you from Monsieur Z!
@@abrahamlincoln937 Yeah, you too. Good to see. When you say you’re a liberal, do you mean a Classical Liberal?
Hello sir. I’ve been watching for a very long time (about 5k subs) and this may be my first time commenting… I just want to say that I really appreciate your ability to communicate your stance concisely and without accusation. I self identify somewhere between conservative and libertarian but it’s so difficult to find anyone that’s able to hold a conversation on “sensitive” topics without resorting to personal attacks. I for one deeply appreciate your character and poise and love to see your success. I’m sorry I don’t comment more often, but this video made me realize the above.
Much love and a wish for continued success from Wisconsin.
Thank you Matthew!
@@VloggingThroughHistory question: what would modern america look like if every single president was an S tier rankiing?
@@BatsBeyondStar we would have won Vietnam Afghanistan China would be capitalist Russia would be a US puppet
@@unoriginalcontent237 sounds like a dream
@@fentanaly yeah
Viewing people discuss about politics with decent respect to others is never found...except on this channel.
Great to be one part of this community
nice pfp
First time I actually appreciated the constant pauses for commentary, loved what you had to say
When I was in college I had a great Professor that would joke around calling me the worst president in history. I always had a laugh but most people didn’t understand how awful of a president he was.
Andrew Johnson is the worst President? I agree.
ahhh I see you share a name with him. I was confused I thought you were pretending to be him xD
@johnv5827 man's just getting incredibly racist towards black students on campus 💀💀
W joke
Not the biggest fan of the work in the original video, but the reaction commentary was great. I think this video really reinforced the fact that Chris tries to be as thoughtful as possible.
Very true! And although in the video Chris will make a face like "Oh I don't know about that" he will only comment on what's necessary and leave out any judgment on Ben's opinion.
@@gabeify4641 lol I love that when Ben puts Obama in F tier and goes on a tirade about why he's split America and ruined the economy Chris is just like yeah I don't even need to bother doing a real rebuttal to this
@@kc3reo all you have to do is look at federal expenditures by year
For those critical of Silent Cal because of his impassivity when it came to his style of governing, bear in mind that the problem with so many other presidents happens to be the very thing Coolidge was never concerned with; his legacy. Too many presidents make it obvious that that is their prevailing interest. In my mind it is one of the worst reasons to want to become president. Concentrating on your legacy makes it about you personally and not what's best for the country. I know it requires a major ego to reach the pinnacle of pinnacles, but balancing it with what's in the best interest of the body you are intending to serve is what separates the greats from the not so greats.
The Declaration of Independence is NOT part of the Constitution in any way, shape or form. Even the current half-wits on SCOTUS know that. But not Ben Shapiro lol. Oh and I see he doesn't know what "Federalist" means either. Sorry, I have no time for listening to morons. Bye.
I’m not so much critical of Cal himself, just Shapiro’s fanwank on him.
@@Justanotherconsumer Dude, what?
Crime was rampant during the Coolidge administration because he refused to take action to either enforce prohibition or ammend the Volstead Act. He coasted on a debt driven prosperity that sowed the seeds of the Great Depression. He didn't cause the Great Depression but his administration must bear responsibility for the consequences of its policies.
It’s why Gerald R. Ford is one of my personal favorite presidents, because yes we can Monday morning quarterback and say he should have bailed out NYC or this and that, but he took over presidency from a control freak and he brought with him alot of passivity. People made fun of him and his clumsiness but I think that’s what the country needed after Nixon
FDR was A tier, you can argue B and even C, but putting FDR in F tier shows a complete blindness of history caused by political leanings.
Actually surprised to see Ben gave Grant such a high ranking. Glad history is finally re-evaluating what a normal man in extra-ordinary circumstances can accomplish.
man the guy put FDR in F tier
@@jakubbarton1770 To be honest you could flip FDR and Grant
@@jakubbarton1770 I mean I agree with F: and I DONT think his ww2 leadership was great either! He basically allowed the USARMY and USNavy rivalry to force america into a 2 prong strategy in the pacific, ignoring the strategic principle of concentration of force and this nearly brought the USA to disaster that it would never have recovered from. More then once. Now add his policy with Stalin was "I'll give you everything and ask for nothing and then you'll feel obliged to help me out give me what I want... " reciprocity? from JOESPH STALIN? the man whose famous quote is "gratitude is a dogs disease" Like are you senile?
This is before we look at the great depression, which was caused by a liquidity crisis ie not enough money in the system. The way you fix that is you print 10 billion dollars and spend it. Build roads.. the hoover dam... homeless crisis? build millions of governemnt houses. Farms are being foreclosed on by banks wiping out small farmers and leaving a food crisis? buy out the mortages and just cancel them. Here you go, your not being evicted any more oh and by the way heres a $1000 to invest in new farm equipment so you don't go into hock again.
thats not what he did though... he made it worse! he sterilised the gold inflows into the united states, reduced the money supply and let the farmers get brankrupt en mass.
@@NightgerbilTV The New Deal to this day is the best set of policies in the history of the US by pretty much any measure. Ranking Roosevelt low is ridiculous.
@@NightgerbilTV FDR is still regularly ranked in the top 3 among both historians *AND* the general public. You can type long TH-cam comments hating him all you want, but doing so won't change facts. 😊
I’m pretty left leaning and liberal and I greatly appreciate videos like this. Being able to talk about history rather than just rank based off just political party is much needed!
USA Liberals are Democrats, circa 2022 about 85% of them are centre right! Left in the USA is the Green party.
I had to represent Woodrow Wilson in a debate for my government class. I was convinced by my research that he was a decent president. The internet doesn’t really show how crappy he was.
It does if you look hard enough
@@ImTitan16yes. It does. But apparently I didn’t look hard enough. 😂
I had to represent Wilson in a debate in 8th grade… I got crushed lol
Woodrow Wilson played the first movie in the White House called the north of a nation. The movie about the KKK.
since you had to represent him your search key words probably geared you toward favorable look at his presidency and history. my guess
I love how unbiased you are it’s a nice breath of fresh air when talking abt history or presidents
You made a great point. Placing Obama at the same level as Wilson is letting your political leanings overcome your judgment.
And call Obama out for dividing country and ignoring Trump's divisiveness.
Obama is in the D category... not in the same as Wilson, but since there's no D he's in the F since Ben rates him lower than a C president.
@@AdamS-nv5oo , the divide in the country along racial and class lines happened under Obama. The divisiveness under Trump was a media phenomenon. In other words you see a greater rise in minority support under Trump for the GOP as whole, all the while the media is calling him a racist. It's also very telling when the current administration is losing minority support to levels that are unprecedented for the Democrat party.
@@solusgamer164 yawn. Right racism didn't exist before Obama and trump getting small bump in black vote. Apparently you forgot Trump calling parts of America shit holes. Blame everything in democrats, threaten to lock them up, etc. If you can't see that there is no point to discuss further
@@solusgamer164 I agree.
I appreciate how you clarified that being liberal or conservative doesn't mean you agree 100 percent.
I'm a libertarian who leans republican on some issues and Democrat on others. I just get told to "get educated" or that I'm too confused to understand politics.
Always keep your mind open, that's the advice my dad always gives.
The reason the American political landscape today is so awful is because of the hardline, my-way-or-the-highway mentality that permeates BOTH sides. You’re not allowed to develop a nuanced agenda if you’re a part of the Democrat or Republican Party.
I think that libertarianism takes the economic policy of the republicns and social of the democrats, i consider most libertarians centrits or medorates for that very reason.
@@samhunt9361 as a liberatarian, ya hit the nail right on the head
@@samhunt9361 Aren't most of the US libertarians on the far right ? At least looking at the Trump mobs it felt like it
Learning that Ben Shapiro is unsatisfied with the tier choices whilst being unaware that he can alter them, is exactly what I needed to know to brighten my day, thank you.
😂😂😂 yes!
Perfect allegory of Ben’s politics
@@javrami4883 except this was unintentional.
He has a staff make these things for him. His time is too valuable to make charts
@@AustinBDay yes, he could be debating college kids during that time.
You habe earned yourself subscriber my friend love this video.
I love how Ben praises Reagan for Star Wars program that never actually come to anything and passes over his horrible war on Drugs.
And how he ignored the AIDS epidemic, the Iran contra scandal
Or the whole October Surprise thing.
That’s because Shapiro is party over country and doesn’t know a thing about history.
Shapiro is a cherry-picker.
I agree. It seems that a lot of faults of the Reagan administration were looked over in lieu of it being one of the major turning points for American Conservatism.
Didn't he also destabilize working unions?
I am actually looking forward to this even more so now. Not a fan of Shapiro, but your ideas and outlook is what matters here.
My thoughts exactly.
Yeah Shapiro is terrible on foreign policy.
He's lost when it comes to anything involving Israel (bias). But he's had good stuff to say on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine thus far.
@@factoverfiction4699 Yeah. I personally despise him but that’s definitely true.
@@shovknight3008 I disagree with a lot of what he says but he is right a whole hell of a lot on things even when i disagree with them.
33:23 he was speaking favorably in that instance. That was what he liked about his policy - the expansion of US territory
The difference between Rossovelt and the other "expansiomists" is He intervened through hard power, whereas the others purchased territory. There's a huge difference between the two.
And the Louisiana purchase ended up being the single greatest purchase in US history. Making us self sufficient in resources.
@@joebenson528 I’m simply addressing his confusion re: Shapiro’s comment and how it was praise not criticism. You can have whatever opponents you’d like on expansion.
not his fault Bens rhetoric is so absolutely retarded that he cant even get that across
The expansion of borders vs expansion of government control are two very different things. I am not quite sure how someone can conflate the two.
Opinions on Miami GP??
Ben saying that lincoln gave liberty to all people in the US instead of saying black people really shows you just how much this dude discredits black people’s trauma and history. Even his wording is pathetic
Hi Chris! I love how your doing these more modern topics. I feel like most of your audience is open enough to not hate you for your political beliefs. And I personally share your conservative beliefs, even if you were a liberal I wouldn’t let that change my opinion of you as a person. I think your a very knowledgeable person who’s passionate about history and I respect that a lot.
I think he was wise to avoid more modern and more controversial things for a while. It gave a chance for him to establish himself and earn respect. Now that it's earned and a standard has been set for the community, it works. Another positive sign of growth.
Look at Mr Beat, while I disagree with him on things, he’s still a fantastic guy and told me facts about people I never even knew existed.
@@jaxonbaker2106 I've wondered, is Mr. Beat a conservative? I can't tell.
@@MrIrrelevant58 He's pretty bipartisan but he definitely leans left on a lot of issues, either way most of his videos are informative and not really opinion based
@@rudybrooks7624 That's why I like him. I remember him saying he disliked Socialism so I confused on where he leant. Thanks.
i havent found a history channel that i can binge watch… until yours. Great video!
I'm really glad you brought up the point about Manchin and Colins. Thats something I cant stand to hear from people, when they complain about how these guys don't vote the party line, then sit there and act like they're some sort of traitors. We shouldn't expect politicians to always vote the party line anyways. I hate that we only really have 2 parties in the US. Honestly, I don't think there should be parties at all. People should vote the way the people in their area want them to vote. Not the way the party as a whole wants them to vote or some other BS, specifically how that politician's constituents want them to vote.
I agree with you. There should be no political parties. Political parties have become more powerful than the candidates. Political have turned politics into a team sport.
@@kurtthecat3995
_I know this comment is a bit long, but I think it's important, and decent enough that it won't be too difficult to keep your attention_
When you really think about it, we have no true democracy in this country, and that is mainly due to our political parties.
Sure, we do technically get to go and choose a candidate, but the pool we're able to pick from is entirely out of our control.
Technically speaking, anyone who fits the criteria can run for POTUS election.
However, we all know that in order to actually have even a REMOTE shot at even being considered, you need to have a LOT of campaign funding so you can put yourself out there. You have to meet certain criteria to be in the debates too, and if you're a random person who cant make it there, you have NOOOO shot.
So, these huge parties sort of pick and choose a handful of candidates to run, and many of the companies that heavily lobby these parties donate oodles of money to them for campaigning, and when we go to the primaries to choose who we want, all this carefully selected pool of people is all people truly get to pick from. Then, once we get down to the general election, we're just picking between the winners of those preselected pools of participants.
Yes, we do technically get to choose, but all we're truly choosing is which party we support. At this point, it's mainly become this sad spectacle where people treat the political parties like professional sports superteams. It's like a bunch of Green Bay fans and a bunch of Bears/Vikings/Lions fans, where they're blindly supporting and rooting for their "team" while attacking the opposition whenever they can. You especially see this from the left, where you see millions of people sporting the "blue wave" emoji in their handle, along with many other people chanting slogans like "blue no matter who". They don't care about what actually matters anymore, the policies, they just want their "team" to win, which allows them to gloat and rub their victory in their "opponent's" faces. Honestly, it's truly fcking sad at this point.
Even when people do talk about the policies, in many cases they haven't actually given it any true thought, they're just blindly supporting whatever "side" their party has told them to support. When they don't support their side, even if it's just a SINGLE issue, ESPECIALLY (almost exclusively) on the left, they're attacked, ridiculed, and sometimes even "canceled" for it. This all goes even further towards proving that it has nothing to actually do with each person truly supporting the policies, the part that actually matters, it's all about just blindly supporting your party. The reasoning is simple, the politicians that control the party want their power and control, and their ability to make money. If they can intimidate people into supporting them, or formulate cult-like thinking and blind, unwavering allegiance to them, this further cements their ability to not just attain the power and influence they want, but to keep it.
@@undeadarmy19 Agreed mate, really wish political parties didn't exist. So many people that vote for those they do now wouldn't if they had a different letter next to their name, and thats the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. We should be voting for the people based on their character and policies, not the letter next to their name.
Remember when Susan Collins voted not to convict Trump after his first impeachment on the basis of "I think he's learned his lesson, and definitely won't do anything impeachable again"?
Yeah, I can't imagine why anyone might not like her.
Nah this is good, no compromise on our rights with conservatives. (I say this as a gay person)
Ben Shapiro is the kind of guy who tells the teacher you are cheating
And you’re the kind of person who plays victim when you get caught doing something wrong 😂
@MrPipol-nm3cd he’s actually honest though. Liars like you always assume everyone else is.
Which while it makes you mad, it also prevents you from becoming the dumbass that you are now. LOL
Ben probably would be right
Ben Shapiro is the very last person you would bother to get an opinion from, which is why we're all wasting our time responding to it.
I feel George Washington is the best President we've had simply because he's the only one who didn't seek the job. He had had enough of power so it had to be thrust upon him.
Biden didn't seek the job. He witnessed a disaster and saw it as his duty to re-enter politics to fix it. That's why he always looks so tired.
I think Washington is the greatest simply because he was doing his duty. Of all the presidents, without Washington, there would be no country. With Lincoln, we would have half a country or maybe we wouldn't - maybe there would be a Confederacy, maybe they would have lost, and probably slavery would have died out anyway - Great Britain had basically declared war on slavery - it was dying in the west. It simply was going to eventually go. But no Washington, no US. I don't think any other president you can say that.
Washington started the French and Indian war. We then revolted against the British because they forced us to pay taxes to support the war which Washington caused. Interestingly enough they didn't force the colonies to pay taxes to support the war until the outcry in England was so large that their hand was basically forced.
So in summary, the colonists started the Revolutionary War because he was upset that Britain was making the colonies pay taxes to fund a war that was entirely started and facilitated by George Washington.
He also had a ton of slaves.
I am not saying he is a bad dude, but we should put what he actually did in historical context.
I mean USA was formed out of the deal, but to anybody other than an American George Washington is a self-righteous man-child that was unable to deal with the consequences of his actions so he started a war where over 200,000 people died.
Pretty pathetic actions in any non-American context.
@@h.a.l.3980 All by himself.
I’m not huge on Coolidge myself for various reasons, but one thing I will say is that he was probably one of the most pro racial equality presidents we had prior to WWII. He signed the Indian Citizenship Act for example and pushed for an anti lynching bill (albeit that never got passed). Coolidge was probably the most libertarian president we’ve ever had.
Seriously, what's not to like about Coolidge?
@@8isyeah he proably did some of the least damege out of all the presidents
Agreed. It's a pity that right after Coolidge, Hoover sold the black community out by trying to cooperate with Southern Democrats and lily white Republicans. Yet another reason he was a terrible POTUS.
His economic policies helped caused the Depression, though it wasn't solely his fault@@8is
My issue was his policy favoring Northeast European migrants, and immigration wasn’t great under his watch. Other than that he did really well
“FDR extended the Great Depression by 8 years!”
Thats’s impressive, considering that the Great Depression is generally considered to have ended in 1939, only 7 years after FDR became president.
I looked it up and the UCLA study he quoted says it was seven years, so Ben was one year off
Which is also hard to believe, as saying FDR's actions lengthened the depression by 7 years, and having the great depression only last 7 years into his term, implies had he not been elected, the great depression would have been over and done with in '32. Which seems optimistic at best.
Not the long term affects similar to Obama
@@Yognaughto100% a lot of people ignore that it was republicans who started the Great Depression and people voted for FDR who came in and helped greatly with his new deal policies
@@LemonyoraRadical spending caused the Great Depression. It'd be correct to assume Wilson's policies eventually caused it.
I am excited to see where this goes because this is probably one of the only communities where modern politics can be debated respectfully
I think he's making a mistake though. I don't know of a single content creator that touches politics like this that hasn't collapsed completely into the safety of one corner or the other. It'll be especially bad for a guy like him who is probably a moderate due to the fact that only partisans attract an audience with a fervor willing to defend the creator from the other partisans. Centrists are loved by no one.
@@morty908 Fortunately VTH is quite level headed and if its starts to get like that, I can see him just calling it and moving back to strictly history. It really is a shame that to be seen as a moderate, or someone who considers ideas before finding a position is somehow a negative or apparently means they don't stand for anything.
@@morty908 History centric creators might be a notable exception. From what I've seen so long as the channel maintains its focus on History and only passingly touches politics from time to it can maintain a reasonably respectful community.
@@chakkles4550 I feel you can have a conservative mind set and vote both sides on the spectrum. Especially with how you debate it respectfully.
There is no community that is in itself political that can debate politics respectfully 😅
Seems people forget that "conservative" and "liberal" aren't tied to Republican and Democrat. Also, we really need more than two parties.
Growing up in Italy in the 90s and 2000s, my (and my family's) main complaint at the time was that there were too many parties and nothing would ever get done because of coalitions that couldn't agree on big issues. Moving to the UK in the late 00s with its 2-party system was a breath of fresh air. I agree with you that we need a more nuanced approach, but I would only want it implemented in a way that actually works and moves a country forward.
@@oslaf3323 Well, we have two now and it's wreaking havoc on us, IMHO. I surmise somewhere between two parties and Italy there is the correct amount.
@@nickclark5023 People are more nuanced than "A or B", which is what a 2 party system leads to. It cannot possibly represent everyone well enough. Not sure how we could possible get more divided than where we are now with the current system. It's quite literally split us in half politically.
@@nickclark5023 Then why do all Republicans seem to fall "in line" so well with each other even when they have those nuances? It's them choosing party allegiance over their own opinions. They COULD form a new party that actually aligned with them or they can sell themselves out. It's a shame, really.
The system of government of the US doesn't lend itself to more than two parties.
I’m very much not a conservative but I love how you keep to the effect on the country not necessarily just your ideas. I respect your ideas completely and that you allow yourself to accept people who don’t conform to just the more right leaning presidents and viewers. Good man here, good man.
Meanwhile you probably do those very things but for left wing presidents and viewers
@@LorianandLothric Just proving his point about idiots like you who only care about the party
@@LorianandLothric The US hasn't had one single "left wing" president.
@@LorianandLothricbased on what exactly?
@@LorianandLothricI wouldn’t say it if I didn’t do it myself.
Just discovered your channel with this video. New subscriber!
One thing - I think Ben was actually complimenting, not criticizing, Teddy Roosevelt for his expansionist policies.
I thought that too...
If it helps the US then it should be complimented.
He ranked him as a D lol
@@anthonyj.s.7266 no
@@johanedfors3899 Yes, America first
It's amazing to see how people change their views on presidents depending upon what lens of time they are looking through. 20 years from now I wonder what people will think of Carter, Biden, Obama, Wilson and Trump.
something really interesting is the series of mediocre/bad presidents after polk leading up to lincoln and the civil war. taylor, fillmore, pierce, buchanan, you gotta think, what if we're witnessing something like that right now?
@@Colinop true, it feels like we haven’t had a good president in a loooooooooooong time
Obama will always been looked upon as a great President by liberal media and mainstream in general (undeserving however). GWB also has been generally looked upon as "ok" however both Bush and Obama's administration have severely expanded the NSA and mass media surveillance state which we will never be able to roll back. Most modern presidents have been absolutely abysmal in retrospect. The last "decent" president was Reagan and even then he was mediocre in many respects. The last good President was probably Eisenhower if you want to be very harsh on ratings.
@@PandemicGameplay Obama’s legacy is gonna depend heavily on ACA and if it gets expanded to full on government healthcare or just goes away in my opinion. GWB and Reagan were both guys who’s policy was hit or miss but were the right guys at the right time to lead through big issues. Dwight and Truman were probably the two best since WW2 if I had to pick.
Trump will be viewed negatively because we will be entering a new cold war with China, history will point to him to blame. Carter will probably be seen more positively.
I agree with his S tier, but man… Ben is being really politically biased, and this is coming from a conservative
FDR should never be in F tier
FDR's legacy has been catastrophic for American politics
@@wyatt430 ???
For the time his policies helped Americans around the country, and he also lead America through the biggest war in history, that doesn’t deserve an F tier
Are you joking?
@@thetf8142 his policies did nothing but create tons of unelected fovernment positions that take about a third of your paycheck. The war is what got us out of the depression, not fdr.
@@wyatt430 Guess who was the leader of the country during ww2?
And you have to put into context why fdr did what he did during the great depression, people dont like to look at that perspective.
What he did is what was necessary during that time, theres no other way around it.
He brought confidence to the american people during the worst economic crisis in US history.
His contributions in ww2 alone take him out of F tier, let alone his contributions to support americans during the great depression.
Its delusional to put him in F tier objectively, Ben Shapiro, and im guess your tier list have heavy amounts of bias within them, not saying FDR is an S tier president, but to say hes an F tier president is laughable at best.
@@thetf8142 Are you saying it's us joining WW2 was thanks to FDR? Anyway, I'm not saying what he did wasn't justified at the time. However, three letter agencies are the worst things to happen to the United States, and there's only one guy to blame for those.
2 years later and I’m here to ask a sincere question…
I have a different political bias to you - I’d consider myself a liberal/progressive, and I don’t stand behind small government when it comes to economic policy (primarily because I think there are too many self-interested parties in a capitalist system that by definition sees too many people left behind), but I am for small government when it comes to social policy.
More philosophically, I’m always going to be in favour of moving the way society is going and potentially “fixing” things as we learn, rather than pushing against the winds of change and conserving what we already have.
I enjoyed this video of yours, and the yardstick I hear you keep coming back to is “were they good for the country?”
I’m old enough to have lived through Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden - so I can’t comment much on those before them. The sense I get is that history will look the most fondly, out of those 4, on Biden. I have lots of reasons why, but I might spare them for another post/comment. (I should also say that I never buy into the idea that there is a straight line between a government and a nation’s economy - heck, look at Australia where they have a left-wing government and they’ve been suffering greatly from inflation for 2 years, as the rest of the world has - a consequence of necessary COVID-era cash injections everywhere + disrupted supply chains post invasion of Ukraine + other factors.)
If I ask myself your question - “were they good for the country?” - I don’t understand how Trump can rate above a D, especially as I sit here in 2024. He’s not bright (again, given my perspective on economics I can’t attribute much economic prosperity to him - mostly luck of timing if anything); he undermines democracy (at home and abroad given his anti-NATO rhetoric and cosying up to Putin); he reinforces racial divides and racist dog whistles (a through line of every Presidency that history looks down on); he pours fuel on the fire of misinformation & disinformation (a threat which has only continued to level up, almost exponentially, since his time in power); he completely bungled COVID-19, leading to one of the very highest relative death rates amongst Western developed nations; and he represents a conservative side of politics that has become the party of big government (banning books, curtailing reproductive freedom, etc). And what’s more, he’s driven politics to a place where USA feels weaker chiefly because one party has calcified so much - you talk about the history of American politics making room for a range of ideologies in each party… today, the Democrats have the backing of both AOC and Cheney; I can’t see something like that in the future of the GOP.
So, with 2 years of observation and analysis on your side since you created this video, how would you rate Trump’s presidency today?
How would you rate Biden’s (though we should maybe give it another 3-5 years)?
And would your rating of Bush and Obama change at all?
This is a fantastic analysis. From the point of view of a liberal, I have a lot of respect for your objective/academic point of view on all of these presidents. Really great stuff, I learned a lot.
Coming from the conservative side, I’d say that I agree with that.
@@patrickc3419 oh cool, seems like you two are nice and respectful to eachother! It would be a shame if some third party started a war in the replies... 😈
@@rag.animations true true shame.
@@rag.animations IM A LIBERTARIAN AND TRUMP, BIDEN, OBAMA ARE ALL FASCIST DICTATORS
One of the most unfortunate things we do in America is try to view historical figures and actions through not only the lens of today but the outcomes we know today. Its really difficult to say FDR s policies alone were so damaging to now because a lot of people manipulated, changed and modified those policies between then and now. I have learned to dismiss this pervasive attitude of something that a president did 80 years ago that impacted today that we should blame that or shame that person when at the time he was wildly popular and just simply not living that experience and not really knowing or reflecting on the other potential solutions.
FDR's policies being damaging is debatable as well. He was probably the most popular president of any era except Washington. Many of the policies enacted such as social security clearly achieved their goals long after its inception. A quick look at the poverty rate amongst the elderly through the years since its inception shows that it worked objectively not subjectively. And he was a hell of a war time president. Republicans just hate that the best president since the modern era began was a democrat. In hindsight I hate that we imprisoned Japanese. But then again NONE of us have ever lived in a TOTAL WAR. I am judging from a very convenient position.
@@brennangum6236 I understand that it was the Dept of the Army that insisted on detaining mostly West Coast Japanese citizens......FDR was pretty egalitarian..I am not sure he was fully behind such a move.
Ready raw deal and see how ignorant of economics he was,we could get out of the crises way earlier without him
In high school I thought FDR and his new deals were terrific. That's what I had been taught. Then I hit college and classes which were much more in depth and realized how much I had been lied to.
One major problem with FDR is the fact he wasn't so great early, but was a good war President. We have this notion of dealing with things in extremes, either good or bad. I feel they don't want to make FDR look bad because of WW2. It detracts from what happened there, so they cover it by saying what he did before the war was also good.
@@rizon72 Can you explain why his policies weren't good?
You're basically saying "someone told me so."
That's not an argument
Chris: I want to avoid controversy about modern politics so I'll avoid talking about topics after 1990, and most political figures before 1980.
Also Chris:
EDIT: Hope you and your wife had a great time on that cruise! 😅
He woke up and choses violence
Lmaoo
“wanna see me do it again!” Lol!!
More like he wants to talk politics, but is trying to avoid anyone disagreeing with him because 'he's just a history guy'. Classic Motte and Bailey argument.
I actually like this. Even though it does ultimately come down to personal opinion, I think it’s cool to see somebody’s opinion on modern politics when they have such a deep understanding of history. Politics these days has basically zero concern for history.
While I agree with most of Ben's rankings I think it's really weird we don't have a D tier. Also you came from a much more moderate perspective than Ben does. Good on you for calling out some of the hypocrisy. I like Ben but sometimes he fails to see things from a broader perspective.
In regards to the ranking system lacking the “D” option: I’m fairly certain this template is using the Japanese grading system (or at least, the version of it made popular by anime and video games). My best guess as to *why* it’s using this version is that the “ranking things by tier list” thing started as a meme.
Ben runs a massive multimillion dollar media empire and no one on set could figure out how to work this very basic website....
@@fatetwister That’s an OOF.
@@fatetwister , imagine not getting a meme
@@fatetwister "multimillion dollar media empire"? WTF
@@fatetwister This. Considering that there is the ability to rename the categories, add categories and even change the colours, yet he couldnt find it...
The moment when you realized Ben Shapiro’s politics are very inconsistent was actually amusing to me. We all knew where he would come down on his rankings and it’s not like there was anyone with him who could push back like you did. Your responses were very reasonable
Inconsistencies are not always a bad thing. I'm not fan of Ben Shapiro but at the every least Inconsistencies are indicators of someone who might understand how nuanced some ideologies are. I try to be consistent because it's important for other understanding my intent but if I'm wrong I would like to hope I'm man enough to admit that and make the changes necessary in short order.
@@808INFantry11X I agree with that, sometimes people get too attached to their principles when sometimes you need to drop them to make the best decision. For example Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana purchase even though it was against his principles, because he knew it was the right decision. However I don't think that applies to ben here, his inconsistencies are more a result of being a partisan hack
@@808INFantry11X it depends on what the inconsistencies are. We’re not talking about mistakes he made in the past, you’re right, evolving on issues is important, we’re talking about positions that are contradicting each other for the same reason. His inconsistencies came from “This guy is more conservative (or believes in lesser powers for the executive branch) I will ignore what he did. This guy is liberal (or alright with a more expansive government) I will say what he did is bad. Even if those things are the same (or similar)
@@reeseseater12 , you will find inconsistencies where you lack understanding on principle. You're making the same assumption that Ben ranked Jefferson highly despite his expansionist policy while ranking Teddy lower BECAUSE of his expansionist tendencies. The truth is Ben criticized both of them for the same thing, but ranked Jefferson higher because of his agreement with the outcomes of Jefferson's presidency. He ranked Teddy lower because of his disagreement with the outcomes of Teddy's presidency. His expansionist tendencies comment was simply another thing added to the list. In reality Ben simply disliked Teddy's power grab and precedence with federal government intervention in the free market.
@@solusgamer164 I understood what he was saying but he still weighed the same thing differently depending on who he was judging and didn't look at them of the context of their times and situations. That is still inconsistent and like previously stated, in the video and comments, his rankings were based solely on his political leaning first, historical context second
Seeing you react to this gave me a lot of respect for you and hope honestly. I’m a California democrat and it’s nice to hear that despite celebrity’s and politicians trying to put us one vs the other that most Americans can look at things outside perspective and find common ground. Thank you for a great video and an honest open perspective
You better stay in California.
@@robertortiz-wilson1588 What a response. Person types a thoughtful comment and you immediately attack him with some dumb partasian talking point. Just stfu and put that on some CNN fb comment page and not here.
Robert Ortiz Wilson Imagine being offended over where someone’s from even though they posted a thoughtful comment.
@@robertortiz-wilson1588 What the hell man, your name is hispanic in origin you know?
People didn’t like your kind either, and wanted them not to move to their state, how can you say such a thing to someone else?
@@robertortiz-wilson1588 Someone makes a respectable comment and you go after them? Be a bit more thoughtful
As a liberal I thought that was a great unbiased critique. Thank you for your honesty!
As a politically liberal person, it’s refreshing to hear someone outly politically conservative speak about politics in a way that doesn’t make me want to rip my hair out.
(This goes for a lot of outly politically liberal people as well)
Ik, he considers multiple sides, and views presidents not on their party but on their platforms, actions, and character. It’s a refreshing way to see politics and history being discussed. It almost drowns out the Ben Shapiro
Yea, a liberal I am not, but neither am I a conservative, I just started watching and I really hope I like this channel.
History is not right or left, it’s just what happened, the people in history might be right or left… or not… was Ramses a lefty? Maybe the mongol hoards were right?
I’m not sure how to judge that, I might like to know what experts think, but I’m uninterested in pundits slanting the history of the US, it only distorts things for everyone that doesn’t dive deep and learn, let’s be honest, no one wants to dive deep and learn about this anyway, play mobile games and yell on Twitter , go to bed, work, eat repeat.
As a conservative I want to rip my hair out anytime I hear a liberal talk😂
@@duffal0 and thats half of the problem
your mindset on both sides of the political spectrum is the issue
@@duffal0 neat
To be honest as a very very liberal individual idk why i clicked on this video when youtube recommended it to me but i came out extremely relieved to hear this guy’s takes. I’m born and raised in Lancaster, PA( if you know anything about it you know it’s a big Republican stronghold) and have always been interested in history. This guy reminded me of all of my amazing history teachers in high school who almost all disagreed with me on modern policy but only told the facts when it came to history whether it be good or bad. We’re all gonna have our own biases but history doesn’t and it’s crazy to deny that Presidents like FDR didn’t progress our country exponentially. Ike is one of my favorite presidents even though he almost certainly would disagree with most of my stances because i believe he truly tried to do what was best for the American people. Anyways all that to say thank you for giving me a little hope in this world 😅
Glad you clicked, Victor! Good to have you here.
Ike?
@@luckydiamond77 President Eisenhower
@@luckydiamond77 I had to google Eisenhower real quick just to check because I didn't know what Ike meant either because I thought of the initials DDE for Dwight David Eisenhower and I found that Ike is a nickname Eisenhower had, I'd say I should know this but that's probably because I only just found VTH yesterday and also because I'm not american
I don't think you know what the word "exponentially" means. And also he didn't do squat to progress the country. He set in place a terrible legacy, making America into a welfare state. His New Deal programs did NOT do a THING for the great depression, it was only mobilization for WWII that did that, all they did was set in place the conditions that would progress until the US had a national debt of 25 trillion dollars nearly a century later. He completely changed the role of the US government, changed America, and for the worse.
I don't even have a historical background, I'm not even American but your explanation of this stuff was so stimulating. Good job!
Thank you for that opening segment speaking on assumptions based off labels. Its refreshing to hear someone explain that to everyone
Great job. Balanced, knowledgeable and fair. I think it shows maturity to recognize and park your biases. I wish that more political discourse in the US had this trait.
As a conservative, I love this. You do a great job separating politics from history. I'd love to see you react to someone who is pretty liberal, just to see how they compare
I would like to do that. Do you have any suggestions?
@@VloggingThroughHistory I'm actually not sure of any "big liberal channels" that also ranked presidents
I can tell you Donald trump would not be a B. Ben’s reasoning for rating him that high makes no sense
@@VloggingThroughHistory You could react to Hasanabi, he's a big leftwing streamer
@@blankname6629 as a leftist, I would put Trump at C. Same for Obama.
In the great picture, there have been WAY worse presidents
It is very refreshing to see a guy who can be so nice while respecting so much another person’s opinion (while criticizing in a civil manner), and who tries to be as objective as humanly possible. I love this channel
Is your native language Spanish?
@@aligindahouse7777 portuguese
no its Klingon
@@1peres02 Your English is really good man, I asked because you made one mistake that I've seen Spanish speakers make a lot so that's why I asked haha
I find it admirable how you can react so respectfully towards someone who is obviously not in the business of arguing in good faith.
Eisenhower absolutely needs to be higher in the tier list. The interstate project alone should get him to B tier. Everyone sleeps on the interstate and don’t realize how huge of an economic role it plays in the country.
As some one who loves going on road trips. I agree. These are the kind of initiatives which shape the future of a country and lay the template for the world.
Ike was a fabulous president- he was beloved on both sides and presided over the fondest period in America history.
And the St Lawrence Seaway...cont forget that during the Ike years....but his overthrow of a duly elected Iranian govt and the imposition of the Shah probably hurt us in the long run.....he was also the first to tangle in Viet Nam, and dont know if he could have taken a stronger Anti Stalinist stance re: Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc...
Except that interstate system also came at the expense on a number of pre-dominantly black and other minority communities that were torn down to make space for that interstate. So even though we can (and maybe(?) should) applaud Eisenhower for the Interstate system, much as we applaud FDR, we also need to acknowledge how the successes of their term came at the cost of displacing thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people from their homes and communities.
Shapiro isn't going to rate the interstate system as a good thing because it's socialist or whatever.
Truman desegregated the Armed Forced by executive order IN AN ELECTION YEAR knowing that it would probably cost him re-election. I think that says it all about his character and why he deserves an A.
5:50 I cannot agree more, and that is precisely why I respect historians that manage to keep their personal politics and history separate.
@VonAllen History generally speaking, conservatives have been losing the long game for centuries, so as time goes on, it tends to go left.
That racism is no longer publicly acceptable shows how much the Overton window has moved since 1800.
As extremely challenging as this would be, I would like to see someone tackle the impact of Congress on the effectiveness of various presidents.
Holy crap. You’re so even keeled and factual. This channel is incredibly refreshing.
Biased and left wing you mean
@@unknownguy-le1hr If he was absolutely left wing he wouldn't despise wilson as much as he does. I'd say he's more center right wing.
@@unknownguy-le1hr no way the video creator's left wing. He was a creampuff on Trump, like Shapiro, overlooking, among other things, that Trump was the primary instigator of an insurrectionist riot that was the first large scale attack on Capitol Hill since the British in 1812.
@@qsr1776 Nope his far left. Trump is a A. He just a anti trumper
@@unknownguy-le1hr Trump himself is not actually super conservative with his policies. Being an anti-Trumper doesn’t make someone far left. It’s usually just a person who believes everything the media says.