TRUMP BUCHANAN ANDREW JOHNSON

"Like Trump, Johnson was vicious under political duress. At staged rallies, he compared himself to Jesus, launched into ruthless personal attacks against “traitorous” Republican opponents and called for the lynching of political rivals like Thaddeus Stevens and Wendell Phillips. Johnson’s extemporaneous harangues also included conspiracy theories accusing the “Radical Congress” of nurturing black violence in the South and “poisoning the minds of the American people” against him. The Republican press declared Johnson “a vile, drunken demagogue disgracing the presidency,” and even his allies lamented that “he is a slave to his passions and resentments.” Disgusted voters responded by giving anti-Johnson Republicans supermajorities in both houses of Congress. That set up the titanic clash between Johnson and Radical Republicans in Congress that played out in 1868 and raised important constitutional questions. After Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act, the House issued 11 separate articles of impeachment against him. Revealing just how dangerous Johnson’s harangues against his political enemies were deemed to be in the 19th century, one of the articles condemned the president’s inflammatory speeches for attempting to bring Congress into “disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt and reproach.” Johnson’s Senate trial riveted the nation; newspapers covered each twist and turn with relish, and huge crowds packed the gallery (only after securing cherished admission tickets) to hear senators make their arguments. Johnson narrowly escaped conviction, but he was deeply isolated politically: A former Democrat who had joined Abraham Lincoln on the 1864 “national unity” ticket, he failed to unite a loose and fractious coalition of disgruntled Democrats, conservative Republicans and white Southerners. As a result, he failed to secure either party’s nomination in 1868 and limped off the political stage, a demagogue shorn of power." https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/10/01/why-donald-trump-is-much-more-dangerous-than-andrew-johnson/?fbclid=IwAR1OTOQqRtEKkhNXJu4-PHc0_IqYIdpGTTDJjXRY_qQxGhdShh2FsVdcp8c