Trump Channels Old Hickory Gail Collins MARCH 16, 2017

New Post Public Reply Private Reply Replies (0) Message Board

Mar 16, 2017 at 1:00 PM 115

Quote:

Trump Channels Old Hickory

Gail Collins MARCH 16, 2017

President Trump at the grave of President Andrew Jackson in Nashville on Wednesday. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Donald Trump wants us to think he’s like Andrew Jackson. So there he was, at Jackson’s home in Tennessee on Wednesday, celebrating Old Hickory’s 250th birthday.

Fans called Jackson “Old Hickory” because he was tough and shared his men’s hardship and deprivation in the Army. There are no similar anecdotes for Donald Trump, although we are looking into a rumor he once sat with an aide in business class.

Quick question: What kind of tree nickname should Donald Trump have?

A) Old Slippery Elm

Old Gopherwood

C) Old Hackberry

D) Old Ornamental Dogwood

The visit was part of Trump’s ongoing effort to present himself as Hickory’s outsider soul brother. Two instinctive friends of the common man, only one of whom has been repeatedly charged with stiffing his contractors.

“It was during the Revolution that Jackson first confronted and defied an arrogant elite. Does that sound familiar?” the president asked a crowd of visitors as he stood in front of Jackson’s house, the Hermitage.

During the Revolution, while Jackson was a teenager, he served as a messenger for the rebels, was captured by the British, spent time in a prison camp, lost two brothers and his mother. The kinship here would be … that military-themed boarding school?

Trump truly is a big Jackson fan. We know that because he said, “I’m a fan.” But they’re really not all that similar.

Which president would you compare him to? Some people pick James Buchanan, who always winds up on the bottom when it comes to worst presidents. I cannot tell you how eager Buchanan fans are for the day that Donald Trump gets out of office and into the rankings.

Unlike Trump, most of our chief executives came to the job after having experience holding other public office. Even Jackson was in Congress. Maybe we could better compare Trump to Zachary Taylor, who had done absolutely nothing but be a soldier. If Taylor had been required to put together a health care plan, it would probably have looked like the one that’s currently staggering around Washington.

Or is Trump like Franklin Pierce? If you want to check it out, I’ll bet people at Franklin Pierce’s home in New Hampshire would be really, really happy to have more visitors. And since Pierce is usually near the bottom of the charts, it’s another camp that’s hoping the Trump administration just keeps going the way it is now.

Like Trump, Pierce was into cleanliness. And neither man was wiretapped by his predecessor. See, there’s a lot of commonality.

Rutherford B. Hayes? I am only bringing him up because nobody ever brings up Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes did get into office without winning the popular vote. And he installed the first White House telephone. Can you imagine a President Trump with no connection to the outside world but telegraph? Has to mean something.

Ronald Reagan? Don’t compare Trump to Ronald Reagan. You’ll just encourage him.

Since Trump was channeling Andrew Jackson, maybe we could talk about Richard Johnson, who was vice president under Jackson’s successor, Martin Van Buren. Now there was a guy who rose to power with the help of an over-the-top persona. Like Jackson, Johnson presented himself as a man of humble origins. But in reality, he had a dad who owned a ton of real estate. And like Trump, he became a politician with a lot of money who complained about the moneyed class.

He also had a wild hairstyle. Things eventually went south for Johnson financially, and he attempted to recoup by opening up a tavern back home. He spent much of his vice presidency tending bar in Kentucky. While this doesn’t really serve our attempts to make a connection, you have to love imagining Donald Trump winding up serving drinks at Applebee’s.

But about Andrew Jackson. He subscribed to 16 newspapers, so that’s a little like spending your evenings staring at Fox. And if Old Hickory had access to a Twitter account, God knows what would have happened. (“Henry Clay still plotting against me! Stealing my mail! Hiding in the bushes! Sad!”)

Some critics have also noted that Jackson was very enthusiastic about clearing nonwhite residents out of the country. On Wednesday, Trump got around that one by declaring the seventh president “a product of his time.”

When we think of Jackson now, we often remember his war against the banks, which set the stage for a financial panic and ensuing depression. None of that came up in Tennessee, although Trump did say approvingly that Jackson “battled the centralized financial power that brought influence at our citizens’ expense.”

During Trump’s second week in office he started a review of an Obama rule requiring investment brokers to put their clients’ interest first. Do you think Andy would have approved? Just asking.

Newer

Older

Scroll down for more posts ▼

Top 10 Most Recent News Articles

Sean Trahan Joins Citrin Cooperman: New Tax Lead

Citrin Cooperman's Strategic Tax Move If there's one phrase that can spark a debate at a financial water cooler, it's 'transfer pricing.' Today, Citrin Cooperman is throwing its hat further into that ring with the appointment of Sean Trahan as head of their new Transfer Pricing and Value Chain Optimization Practice. This isn't just another reshuffling of office...

Davos Healthcare Aims to Revolutionize Hospital Ratings

Throw away those dusty, old reputation surveys—Davos Healthcare just turned the spotlight onto cold, hard data with its new global hospital evaluation platform. Why Davos Healthcare’s Initiative Matters At the C3 US NYC Davos of Healthcare™ Summit, an event that’s rooted itself alongside the United Nations General Assembly, Davos Healthcare unveiled a...

AI-Driven Lumi Transforms Car Dealership Interactions

Lumi: Changing the Car Buying Game Picture this: You're browsing for a new car, head filled with specifics like towing capacity, price points, and trim options. Usually, such queries would send you bouncing around the web, but Lectrium's Lumi promises to keep the questioning—and decision-making—right on the dealership's page. In a move set to shake up the game,...

Dr. Desi Bartlett Teams Up with Glo for Perimenopause Focus

Glo Taps Top Wellness Expert for Women's Health Initiative In an industry brimming with wellness voices, it's rare to find one that marries scholarly acumen with authentic, personal teaching. Yet, this is precisely what Dr. Desi Bartlett brings to the table as she partners with Glo to offer new fitness programming specifically targeting women facing perimenopause and...

FJBio Boosts Antibody Discovery with Sapio AI

In the sprawling world of antibody discovery, where every scrap of data can make or break the next big breakthrough, FairJourney Bio (FJBio) is pulling out all the stops. They've teamed up with Sapio Sciences to ditch the paperwork nightmares and usher in a new era of AI-driven efficiency. With operations stretching from Porto to Cambridge to sunny San Diego, they’re...

Cracking the Code of America's Delivery Addiction

America's New Obsession: Convenience at a Cost Diving into the relentless hustle, Americans are shelling out big bucks to dodge life's mundane chores. A fresh survey dished out by FinanceBuzz, hitching a ride with Bank of America, gives us a peek into how hooked everyone is on convenience services like food and grocery deliveries. It’s clear people are ready to fork...

Succession Planning in Turmoil: Only 42% Ready

Diving into the Succession Crisis in Finance Succession planning in the financial advisory space is like retirement planning for the rest of us—everyone knows it's crucial, yet too many put it off. Despite the looming retirement wave and desperate interest from the younger cohort, a staggering 42% of financial advisors are still without a documented succession game...

The Chemical Industry and EPA: A Broken System?

Decades of an Unchecked Revolving Door The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and chemical manufacturers—a dance that’s been going on for what seems like forever. But not in the way you might hope. We're talking about a revolving door where execs and lobbyists waltz into regulatory chairs while regulators slide into cushy industry gigs. Wisner Baum LLP, a stickler...

Leapora's Taskeen: Redefining Task Accountability

AI's Impact on Workplace Task Management In today’s whirlwind of AI-generated output, transparency is not just a luxury; it’s a necessity. AI systems churn out work that can appear polished but often lacks substance. This doesn't just create headaches; it triggers a ticking bomb in the regulatory department. According to a 2025 survey from Stanford and BetterUp Labs,...

FutureVault's AI Agents: Transforming Financial Workflows

Revolutionizing Financial Operations: FutureVault's AI Approach In the dizzying whirlwind of financial services, the launch of FutureVault AI Agents is a game-changer for document management. This isn't some half-baked tool; it's a full-fledged overhaul of how compliance and operations should tick in the modern age. We've all seen it—a paper trail tangled across systems...