You say that, but the Decepticons had control of Cybertron when he was in charge. Once Rodimus was running things the 'Cons were kicked off planet and had to live on a miserable floating piece of rock. Also Rodimus killed Satan. And yet he thinks he doesn't live up to Optimus. Pssh.
Right? Rodimus clearly got things done.
Generally the Decepticons fully take over once Optimus is Arked, in ye olde 80s continuities - it all starts changing when he's woken up again! (Maybe Optimus spent the whole time going "I'm not a patch on Sentinel Prime :(" in his early days just as Rodimus did)
Meanwhile we find out Sentinel was doing war crimes and got fragged by his own troops.
He was, however, much more successful than the Prime before him, while lamenting---
If we're doing IDW1, which one was Trump? Was that Nova Prime?
I believe Nominus Prime would fit the bill. Incompetent, ego driven arse whose misrule set the stage for civil war.
Sentinel Prime when he was brought back from the dead was written to be a very Trumpy guy.
I was a bit disappointed in how they brought him back going "BWA HA HA" and then beat him in two months, because "a legitimate former leader is back from the dead and he wants to be in charge again and he's HORRIBLE" feels exactly a long-term plot IDW Phase 2 should've run with
"Guys, we need to decide which one out of bloody Starscream and bloody Sentinel Prime is the worst guy to have in charge." And what if the characters disagree? And what does Sentinel think if the _wrong_ people agree with him, if Decepticons are going "I trust HIM more than Sneaky Starscream"
Oh god, that would have been such a juicy angle because while Sentinel wasn't more trustworthy, I can absolutely buy people remembering him less well than Starscream's more recent treachery.
(the next Prime after Rodimus will single-handedly eradicate the Decepticon war machine while going "if Roddy was here, he'd do it quicker :(")
I love the idea of the Primes having an inferiority complex and imposter syndrome.