(12-17-2019 02:30 AM)mrbig Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 01:05 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(12-16-2019 07:43 PM)mrbig Wrote:  tanq - my flat earther comparison was for politicians taking all guns, not just “assault weapons”. I agree that many more politicians support some form of “assault weapon” ban.

OO - I am not talking about random rankings of Presidents compiled by John Smith and Jane Jones. I am talking about rankings created through a consensus of multiple historians. That doesn’t mean they are correct, but they are more knowledgeable than most and I trust their rankings better than my own or most people’s, unless there is a strong countervailing argument made. More specific to your point, the individuals weighing in on such rankings most certainly consider more than “freeing the slaves” and “saving the union” because they know a lot more about Lincoln (and all other Presidents) than such a 30,000-foot view.

So, what do they consider beyond those two items that qualify him as great? Truly curious.

To reiterate, I believe the historians involved in those rankings considered more than just those 2 items for Lincoln, but I honestly don't know. I just remember seeing multiple rankings by historians with Lincoln on top (and a quick search earlier today confirmed my memory) and that 53% of Republicans in a recent poll said Trump was better. I'm not a Lincoln expert and I'm not going to pretend to be one. But if someone thinks Trump is better than Lincoln, I think they qualify as his base. If one essentially thinks Trump is one of the best presidents in the history of the USA, then that person is certainly part of the base.

PART of the base, yes. Just as some people I know recently said that Hillary was the most qualified nominee in history and I would assume they were part of her base. But while I agree the 53% you mention are almost certainly PART of Trump's base, I do not think the are THE base, and that is what I thought you were suggesting in your original post on this matter. We seem to worked ourselves into -what did Fountains call it - a consensus.