Well sure, but I don't think any politician has ever done terrible shit on purpose. I mean, I've read most of the writings of John C. Calhoun and he was both very well educated and thought he was on the side of the angels.
Put another way: Dick Cheney did terrible shit on purpose... because his idea of "terrible shit" is the polar opposite of my idea of "terrible shit." Cheney was 100% convinced that the CIA was full of shit, that Iraq had WMD, and that the US needed to take the Middle East in order to preserve the American way of life. Donald Trump isn't an idealist. He's not Marx, he's not Kennedy, he's not Mao, he's not Hitler. He could be Stalin. He could be Duterte. But he's a 70-year-old real estate developer whose political itch didn't advance to putting together a campaign until he was beyond retirement age. Donald Trump doesn't think he's on the side of angels. He thinks angels are irrelevant. He won't do evil shit to be lionized by history because his idea of "historic" is large buildings with his name on them. He's going to do stupid shit because he has less interest and respect for politics than the average HOA member.