President Donald Trump has shared a revised version of his ranking of U.S. presidents, expanding a chart he posted days earlier that placed himself alone in a category labeled “The Greatest” above Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The updated ranking, posted to Truth Social on Sunday, retains Trump in a standalone top tier but adds a number of former presidents who were absent from the version he previously shared. Among those newly included are Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Changes in Trump’s Presidential Rankings
Trump’s revised ranking includes several notable changes. Reagan, who was absent from the earlier ranking despite his longstanding status as a conservative icon, has been added to the “Near Great” category. Eisenhower has also been placed in the same tier.
Several 20th-century presidents who did not appear in the original version are now included. Kennedy and Nixon are ranked as “Average.” Ford and George H.W. Bush have been placed in the “Below Average” tier, alongside Lyndon B. Johnson, who was excluded from Trump’s earlier chart.
Another notable change is the placement of Herbert Hoover. Hoover was previously listed as “Average” but has been moved into the “Failures” category. Also added to failures was George W. Bush.
Despite these changes, Trump remains alone in the highest category, titled “The Greatest,” above Lincoln, Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, who continue to occupy the “Great” tier.
Ronald Reagan’s Absence from Original Ranking
The omission of Reagan from Trump’s original chart drew attention because Reagan is widely regarded by many Republicans as the modern standard-bearer of the conservative movement. Trump and Reagan are often compared in discussions about the Republican Party’s direction and leadership, with recent polling suggesting Trump has surpassed Reagan as the Republican president most admired by GOP voters.
The absence of Reagan stood out in a ranking that otherwise included many presidents viewed favorably by conservatives, such as Washington, Jefferson, Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt. The revised version now places Reagan among the country’s “Near Great” presidents, below Trump’s standalone top category.
Excluded Presidents and Historical Context
Trump’s revised ranking includes 43 presidents, leaving several commanders in chief off the chart entirely. Among those not included are William Henry Harrison, who served just 31 days before dying in office in 1841, making his presidency the shortest in U.S. history, and James Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881 after serving less than a year.
Number of U.S. Presidents
The United States has had 45 different people serve as president, from George Washington to Donald Trump. However, Trump is officially the nation’s 45th and 47th president because he served two nonconsecutive terms, like Grover Cleveland who served as both the 22nd and 24th president. Consequently, there have been 47 presidencies but only 45 individual presidents.
Trump’s revised ranking includes most of those presidents, ranging from those he classified as “Great” or “Near Great” to those he placed in the “Failures” category. The chart continues to place Trump alone at the top in a category labeled “The Greatest.”
Comparison with Historians’ Views
Trump’s rankings differ sharply from those produced by presidential historians. In the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project survey, historians ranked Lincoln as the nation’s greatest president, followed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Jefferson. Trump, who places himself above every other president in his own ranking, finished last in that survey.
The revised chart also elevates figures whose legacies are debated among historians. Woodrow Wilson, for example, remains in the “Great” category despite criticism over his administration’s record on racial segregation and civil liberties.
At the opposite end of Trump’s rankings, Biden, Obama, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren Harding, Carter and Hoover are grouped together in the “Failures” category.
The updated chart provides a view into Trump’s perspective on American presidential history and highlights his significant standing within today’s Republican Party. Polling has shown many GOP voters regard him more favorably than Republican presidents who traditionally occupied the party’s highest tier, including Reagan.