Again, the problem here is that TR wasn't serving the people. He was serving his own unbridled ego. The enemy in 1912 was Socialism. Did he work to stop it ? No. He sabotaged a sitting Conservative President, created a third party around his ego designed explicitly to sabotage the Republican party, and allow the Democrats to win by a plurality - for which only a minority of Americans supported.
The Democrats had already been taken over by the Socialists in 1896 with its purge of the centrist Bourbons led by President Grover Cleveland. Cleveland remains to this day the last non-leftist Democrat elected President. Every Democrat since has been a Socialist, Communist or worse. I can't celebrate TR as a positive leader, especially when he willfully inflicted damage to this nation and sent us down the wrong path. Add to that his warmongering agenda, which has also been the cause of incalculable damage to humanity throughout the 20th century to today. It was only when one of his beloved sons was killed in WW1 when he finally began to realize that perhaps war was not all it was cracked up to be, especially when your dearest blood doesn't return home.
This remains a stark contrast here: TR took something in 1912 that WASN'T broken, and broke it. Reagan and Trump, conversely, were/are addressing problems with this nation that WERE broken (which again, could be traced back partly to TR) and also within the party itself, which had become corrupted. Putting the three of them together as a great triumvirate of leaders is an offense. Two wanted to save America, another was mad he had limited himself to two terms and wanted to get back in again, and was doing whatever was necessary to suit his ego. Huge difference.
The enemy in 1912 was Socialism.
If the enemy was socialism, and the democrats were overwhelmed with it, and it appears you feel he was egotistical and could have joined them with their like attitude, then why did he go to another party that wasn’t even named yet and why could he take a third party to victory with no other assistance than his deeds?
This wasn’t a party issue for him, it was the people. That’s what got Reagan in and that’s what got Trump in. The only difference between Roosevelt and them is that Reagan and Trump did it without a political reputation. When Roosevelt left the GOP he did the same thing. They ran for the people, not for the party.
TR took something in 1912 that WASN’T broken
A lot of that is because he had previously fixed a lot of it. During his seven years on office, Roosevelt embraced the era of reform that was dawning in the United States. He took on the corporate trusts, challenging them in the courts and breaking up many monopolies that held sway over the U.S. economy, including the banking trusts, the oil trusts, the railroad trusts, even the sugar trusts that were under control of those socialists you mentioned.
There were many more accomplishments. Roosevelt initiated the building of the Panama Canal, and he negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. Notice earned unlike Obama.
Roosevelt also helped transform the United States in to a major naval power, ushering in what became known as the American Century. These accomplishments earned Roosevelt a spot on Mount Rushmore representing the development of the United States. For a lot of things not broken, they sure got invented so they wouldn’t be. He was a man of the people and not the parties. And the voters recognized that and chose him over the parties like Reagan or Trump. The people voted for them, not for the regular party platforms.
wy69