Will 2026 finally be the year when a critical mass of Americans wakes up and realizes that Republicans always screw up the economy?
Donald Trump inherited an economy from Joe Biden that was perhaps not firing on all cylinders but was in pretty good shape all the same.
For the third straight time, a Democratic president handed a Republican president an economy that was at the least pretty good, and at most (Bill Clinton) really humming along very nicely. And, for the third straight time, the Republican has made things worse. Which also means that Democratic presidents have to clean up messes left by their GOP predecessors.
The people in charge of surrendering didn’t want to die, and wanted to continue to live cushy lives. Most of the Union didn’t want to march all the way to the gulf killing every confederate on the way there. Even today, a good chunk of the south holds resentment for losing the war as badly as they did. When faced between allowing some shit bags to get off with a slap on the wrist, or murdering half the country and drawing out the war, the choice was pretty obvious.