Pierce, Buchanan now have competition

OPINION:

Presidents Pierce and Buchanan must be smirking from their graves.

Franklin Pierce, in a deep depression over witnessing the death of his 4-year-old son on the way to his inauguration in 1853, signed the disastrous Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. His successor, the aging and inept James Buchanan, bungled the handling of the secession crisis in the last months of his term, from November 1860 to March 1861. Depending on the temperament of historians, these two 19th-century figures have had the dubious distinction of rotating as the worst president in American history.

Now the 14th and 15th presidents have Joe Biden to contend with as most catastrophic chief executive ever. Biden’s shocking abandonment of Americans and their compatriots in Afghanistan is a stain on our nation’s soul.

Prior to this, Biden’s multitude of faux pas, such as his failure to secure the southern border and his tacit approval of the antics of “The Squad” and other radicals, such as Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders, were viewed as mere indications of a cognitive decline. With the abandonment of thousands in Afghanistan to the brutality of the Taliban, Biden’s integrity is now in question.

MIKE MCADOO

San Francisco