The Atlantic asked readers to submit their choices for “Worst Leader of All Time.” It was the liberal magazine’s “big question” for its January/February 2017 issue. And while tyrannical leaders like Hitler and Pol Pot appeared in some of the responses, so did George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, and those American presidents were deemed fit to print.

This was the submission by author Laurence Leamer (The Price of Justice):

I was thinking of Dan Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, when the goofy, smiling face of President George W. Bush appeared out of nowhere. Bush’s invasion of Iraq was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions, was a major factor in the dismemberment of nation-states, and the tally goes on.

Then, this from TV Land co-host Bryan Safi (Throwing Shade):

Ronald Reagan. Tens of thousands of gay men were wiped off the map simply because he refused to speak, much less act. What’s worse than ignoring a national health crisis while you stuff your face full of jelly beans and your wife reads her horoscope in the next room?

National Review’s David French took issue with The Atlantic’s decision to actually publish the "nonsense" some of its readers believe as in agreement:

Here’s a quick way to know if you’re unhinged. If someone asks you, “Who is the worst leader of all time?” and your response is any American president – much less presidents Reagan or Bush — you might need medication…

Why is the The Atlantic catering to this nonsense? It’s a serious journal that publishes some of the best content anywhere on the web, but it’s also susceptible to the broader trend of mainstreaming radicalism. 

Indeed, that’s one of the primary sins of the mainstream media writ large. It still produces well-reported and well-reasoned content, but in part because of its connection to fever-swamp academia and fringe Hollywood, it grants respectful hearing to incandescently idiotic ideas.

In other words, French continues: “In the age of Trump, watch for most of the Left to treat media responsibility as entirely one-sided. It’s up to conservatives to police their own, while the Left is free to unleash ‘provocative’ ideas. Fox News needs to watch itself, while The Atlantic grants a platform to extremism.”

“Please, Atlantic, don’t publish stupid things,” French pleads. We second that motion.