There could not be more of a difference in personality between Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President (1923-1929) and the 45th and 47th President, Donald Trump (2017-2021, 2025- ).
Coolidge was quiet, soft spoken, avoided publicity and attention, while Trump is bombastic, outspoken, and craves constant publicity and attention.
It seems clear that if Coolidge had ever met Trump, he would be frowning about him as a showboat and braggart!
And yet, the two Presidents actually have much in common, specifically three terms:
Isolationism—desire to avoid involvement with rest of world and alliances
Protectionism—promotion of high protective tariffs
Nativism—support of limitations on immigration from other nations.
These policies in the 1920s led to disaster in the 1930s and 1940s, causing the Great Depression; causing the rise of Fascism, which forced America into World War II; and denying many immigrants, particularly Jewish, but not only them, who were trying to escape from totalitarian Fascism in Italy under Benito Mussolini and Germany under Adolf Hitler. This led to the Holocaust of 12 million people in Nazi Germany’s areas of control!
Sadly, we now seem to be going in that same direction, as a century ago, as immigrants are being deported to an uncertain future, and we are on the cusp of a major economic collapse due to high tariffs being imposed by Donald Trump.
But even worse is the collaboration and flirtation with authoritarian nations, particularly the Russian Federation, against nations that were once America’s democratic allies!