Opinions can be the informed kind or the laughably biased kind; they are arguable.
Anecdotes are useless, they ARE 'people are saying, I'M saying'. They are like Trump claiming one of the ex-presidents told him, sir "I wish I did what you did"
Again, opinions like yourself are epitome of assholes.
During remarks on March 16, 2026, President Donald Trump claimed that an unnamed former U.S. president privately told him, "I wish I did what you did" regarding his recent military actions against Iran.
The New York Times
The New York Times
+1
Here are the key details of the claim and the subsequent responses:
The Claim
Context: Trump made the comments twice on Monday, first during a meeting with the Kennedy Center's board and later in the Oval Office.
The Quote: Trump alleged the former leader said, "I wish I did it. I wish I did. But they didn’t do it. I’m doing it".
Target of Action: While Trump's recent campaign is referred to as Operation Epic Fury, he specifically linked the praise to his aggressive stance against Iran, including reports of strikes that targeted high-level leadership.
Refusal to Name: Trump declined to identify the individual, stating he did not want to "embarrass him" or hurt his career.
The New York Times
The New York Times
+4
Denials from Former Presidents
Aides for all four living former U.S. presidents—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden—have denied the claim or stated that no such conversation occurred.
The New York Times
The New York Times
+2
George W. Bush: When specifically asked if it was Bush (the only other Republican), Trump replied, "No". Bush's office confirmed they "haven’t been in touch".
Bill Clinton: Trump refused to answer when asked if it was Clinton. An aide for Clinton stated there have been "no recent conversations" between them.
Barack Obama: An aide confirmed there have been "no recent conversations" regarding Iran or any other topic.
Joe Biden: Sources close to the former president told The New York Times that he has not spoken with Trump recently.
The New York Times
The New York Times
+2
Why are anecdotes useless; more so than opinions?
Anecdotes are weak not because they’re “opinions in disguise,” but because they’re tiny, uncontrolled, biased samples that pretend to be evidence about the world.
### What anecdotes actually are
An anecdote is a specific story: “My uncle smoked and lived to 95, so smoking isn’t that bad.” It makes an implicit general claim from a single or tiny number of cases. That’s the key problem: it looks like evidence, but it’s statistically meaningless.
### Why anecdotes are especially bad as evidence
Compared to a naked opinion (“I think X”), an anecdote often misleads more because it feels like data:
- **Non-representative**: One or a few cases say nothing about how common something is or what usually happens in a population. They’re classic cherry-picked samples, not a fair cross-section.
- **Uncontrolled**: You have no control of confounders—other causes that might explain the outcome (genes, other behaviors, random luck), so you can’t infer causation, only a story.
- **Biased selection**: Stories get repeated because they’re vivid, emotional, or convenient, not because they’re typical (survivorship bias, confirmation bias, etc.).
- **Memory and perception errors**: People misremember timing, details, and even outcomes, and then confidently report them as fact.
- **Illusion of support**: An anecdote gives a debate-friendly “example” that seems like proof, so it often *overpowers* better but abstract evidence (statistics, trials, base rates).
### Why they can be “worse” than opinions
Opinions are (ideally) presented as “here’s what I believe.” They can be discussed, challenged, or bracketed as value judgments. An anecdote, in contrast, often smuggles in a claim of fact—“this *happened*, therefore this *is true*”—without the safeguards of real evidence. In that sense:
- A raw opinion is obviously subjective.
- An anecdote masquerades as objective evidence while sharing many of the same subjectivity problems but also implying “and this generalizes.”
So if your metric is “how likely is this to distort our picture of reality while sounding persuasive?”, anecdotes are often more dangerous than straightforward opinions.
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