Not to downplay in any way how atrocious Trump was/is, but Bush II was a far worse president. Trump was a piece of human garbage in a toupe, and worked to undermine democracy, but Bush II succeeded in undermining not only the economic stability of the US, but also our position as the reliable leader of western democracy. The world will not fully recover from the catastrophe that Bush II caused.

Although Trump is directly and obviously a reaction to having our first African American president, I am convinced that he would not have been elected if it were not for the economic problems caused by Bush II. Trump still would have had a lot of support purely from people motivated by racism, but the “economic anxiety” component of his supporters would have been much less without the 2008 crisis, and the aftermath for poor, rural Americans who did not participate fully in the recovery.