During his presidency, Donald Trump was frequently compared to Andrew Jackson. The seventh president, like the 45th, was an aggressive anti-establishment proto-populist. Quick to anger, Jackson rejected “expert” opinions and saw himself as the voice of the people. He waged sometimes one-man wars on the Bank of the United States and on the federal bureaucracy, which he saw as full of disloyal and self-interested officials. Trump himself clearly felt some kinship with his predecessor, stopping by Jackson’s grave in Nashville on the 250th anniversary of his birth and hanging his portrait in the Oval Office.
Although much has been written about the two men’s personalities and presidencies, little has been written about how they both took defeat. There are things that the GOP — if not Trump personally — can stand to learn from Jackson on the subject of losing.
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