For the record: Is Trump a 19th-century president?

There's something genuinely Trumpish in pictures of Millard Fillmore, here in an 1849 daguerrotype by Matthew Brady, via Wikipedia, in his pouchiness, peculiar hair, and attempt to display a flinty manly firmness. I'm not the first to notice; it was noted a couple of years ago by Michael Beatrice.

Somebody else was thinking about 19th-century American history:

Really interesting way to look at Trump by @julia_azari: a 19th century-style president https://t.co/wuV498ZWRX

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) August 28, 2017

The idea that for most of the 19th century, between A. Jackson and T. Roosevelt or from Van Buren through McKinley presidents really weren't very important, with the giant exception of Lincoln; small staffs and restricted functions, not that much to do, which is somewhat true, and Trump with his lack of interest in policy and failure to offer moral leadership is not so different from John Tyler or Benjamin Harrison. If I look at that graphic without really looking, I see Trump in a nightcap with a tassel.

I think Azari's idea is a mistake, and I left a thread. It gets a little apocalyptic toward the end...

Cute, but: If Trump understood that he's Millard Fillmore or Franklin Pierce things wouldn't be so bad. https://t.co/Wr5x7gp08O

— Yastreblyansky (@Yastreblyansky) August 28, 2017

And between bad Jacksonian goals and his own personal incompetence to carry out normal tasks, it's a 21st-century crisis.

— Yastreblyansky (@Yastreblyansky) August 28, 2017

If he'd been elected in Jackson's place in 1828, it could have gone two ways: (1) his failure would have destroyed his party....

— Yastreblyansky (@Yastreblyansky) August 28, 2017

(2) end of the Constitution and Republic, and South American–type history of national splits, coups and strongmen, lack of government.

— Yastreblyansky (@Yastreblyansky) August 28, 2017

Last word there should have been "governance".

Starting to feel our chances now are something like that: either GOP collapse and 20 years of Democrats (some hope) or reactionary chaos.

— Yastreblyansky (@Yastreblyansky) August 28, 2017