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Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached.

Donald Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice.

But there’s a lot more in common between Johnson, our 17th president, and Trump, the 45th.

Both were/are paranoid, vindictive, stubborn, bigoted, arrogant, self-righteous, autocratic, volatile, vainglorious, divisive, indifferent to constitutional niceties, and prone to giving long, rambling, non-sequitur-filled speeches in which they threatened opponents and spoke about themselves in the third person.

Official portraits also show a kindred propensity for glowering.

 

Andrew Johnson was the first president impeached, while Trump was impeached twice.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian says Trump is tied with Johnson for number one in a category he may not want to brag about.

“Donald Trump has joined Andrew Johnson as the most racist president in American history,” Jon Meacham said. “Like Trump, Johnson was a temperamentally tumultuous man who defied norms of the era. In Johnson’s case, he actively sought to undo the verdict of the Civil War as the Republicans of the day saw it; in Trump’s case, he is actively seeking to nullify the constitutional order by using his powers to undo the sovereignty of our elections.”

During his presidency, Trump launched a racist tirade against several women of color who serve in Congress, telling them to “go back” to their own countries.

He also referred to African nations as “shithole countries,” called Mexican immigrants “rapists,” proposed a ban on all Muslims entering the country, and refused to denounce white supremacists after a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Meacham said that America has never been about the concept of birthright but rather the belief that “all men are created equal,” as stated in the Declaration of Independence.

“We didn’t apply it that fully then, we haven’t applied it fully now,” he said. “But that journey toward a more perfect union is the story of the country.”

Instead, Trump stoked racism with both his ongoing comments as well as his “birther” lies about former President Barack Obama, Meacham said.

Trump is also the first president since Johnson to skip his successors inauguration.

President-elect Ulysses S. Grant refused to ride with the deeply unpopular Johnson from the White House to the Capitol for the ceremony.

When it was suggested that two carriages carry them separately, Johnson said he would simply not attend the ceremonies, remaining instead at the White House with friends and colleagues and signing last-minute legislation.

Trump plans to pardon about 100 of his cronies as his last official act, and then await a senate trial which will determine if he can ever hold public office again.

Historian Douglas Brinkley says America suffers when the president is a sore loser.

“It’s the ultimate healing gesture. It’s the genius of American reconciliation,” Brinkley said. “It’s with sadness that Trump seems unable to admit defeat and be large enough to wish the new president good luck.

“But, on the other hand, given what has just happened at the Capitol, you know, the insurrection of the Capitol with Trump’s culpability, the nation may be better off with him not being a part of the healing, because he may have been the cancer on the national ward.”

 

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