Ronald Reagan

{{bronze}}
[[File:Reagan-LPcover.jpg|right|thumb|165px|0.70 out of 5.0 on RateYourMusic!<ref>[https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/ronald-reagan/speaks-out-against-socialized-medicine/ Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine] ''RateYourMusic''.</ref>]]
[[File:Reagan.gif|165px|thumb|right|A true statesman, if one existed.]]
{{uspolitics}}
{{cquote|Someday, it might be worthwhile to find out how images are created, and even more worthwhile to learn how false images come into being.|||The horse's mouth<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/opinion/15herbert.html?_r=0 Reagan and Reality], ''The New York Times''</ref>}} 
{{cquote|Finally, I just stopped caring. Luckily, by then it was the '80s, and no one noticed.|||Reverend Lovejoy encapsulating the Reagan era spectacularly in "In Marge We Trust," the 22nd episode of Season 8 of <i>The Simpsons</i>.<ref>[https://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=431&t=22035 08x22 - In Marge We Trust]. The Simpsons Transcripts, 7 August 1998.</ref>}}
{{cquote|<b>How far up your ass does this guy's dick have to be before you realize he's fucking you, man?</b> People are just, "I like him. I don’t know what it is. He looks good on TV, he brought back patriotism. Goddamn it, he's a good American. Hold it, something's slapping my ass. Oh, my God, he's fucking us!" "Well, Nancy and I feel that, a man you might know as John Wayne once told me, that, a man you might remember as Jimmy Stewart--" Shut the fuck up. Answer a question like a man, you fucking lying B-actor dickweed… Mr. President, sir. With all due respect.|||[[Bill Hicks]] in his 1989 Special <i>Sane Man</i><ref>[https://subslikescript.com/movie/Bill_Hicks_Sane_Man-287337 Bill Hicks - Sane Man (1989)]. sublikescript.com.</ref>}}

Saint
 '''[[666|Ronald(6) Wilson(6) Reagan(6)]]''', a.k.a. '''"Ronnie [[Strategic Defense Initiative|Raygun]]"''' and '''"Teflon Ron"'''{{efn|A nickname first thought up by Congressman Pay Scroeder, who said that Reagan was "perfecting the Teflon-coated Presidency&nbsp;… nothing sticks to him. He is responsible for nothing&nbsp;— [[civil rights]], Central America, the Middle East, the economy, the environment. He is just the master of ceremonies at someone else's dinner.<ref name=Paul>''The Clothes Have No Emperor: A Chronicle of the American 80s'' by Paul Slansky</ref>{{rp|70}}}} {{Lived|1911|2004}}, was the 
GOP's [[messiah]]
 
[[Star Wars|Sith overlord of the Galactic Empire]]
 40<sup>th</sup> [[President of the United States]], a B-movie [[Hollywood|actor]], [[PR]] expert and [[racist]],<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard-nixon/595102/ Ronald Reagan’s Long-Hidden Racist Conversation With Richard Nixon: In newly unearthed audio, the then–California governor disparaged African delegates to the United Nations.] by Tim Naftali (Jul 30, 2019) ''The Atlantic''.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/nov/12/the-reagans-showtime-docuseries 'They created a false image': how the Reagans fooled America: A new docuseries studies the damaging reign of Ronald and Nancy Reagan and the insidious myth-making that still surrounds their legacy] by Charles Bramesco (12 Nov 2020 12.09 EST) ''The Guardian''.</ref> with a long career in "[[Red baiting|freeing the world from the evil grip of Communism]]". Scores of problems in the modern USA can be traced to him moving the center of American politics far to the right, even if he did not hold some of these reactionary positions himself.

Originally a dead-dog [[Hollywood]] [[Democrat]], old Ronnie got his start in politics by giving The Speech at [[Barry Goldwater|Goldwater]]'s Presidential nomination in 1964. (E.J. Dionne Jr. called it "The most consequential moment of the Goldwater campaign" despite the fact that it "had absolutely no impact on the outcome" because of how it later inspired so many conservatives.<ref>''Why The Right Went Wrong: Conservatism From Goldwater to Trump and Beyond'' by E.J. Dionne Jr.</ref>{{rp|59}}) The [[Bread and circuses|marriage of politics and Hollywood]], which scarily resembled [[Roman Empire|Rome]] during its Age of Decadence, was pretty inevitable in hindsight, kicked off with a bang, with Goldwater himself describing the Reagan Revolution as "ostentatious".<ref>Bennetts, Leslie, [http://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/21/us/y-reagan-with-a-new-first-lady-a-new-s.html "Reagan With a New First Lady, a New Style"], [[New York Times|NYT]] 1.21.81.</ref> Never mind Barry; his nose was out of joint because the man who gave The Speech kept on giving The Speech for himself, and so, sixteen years, following a series of four questionable presidents — [[Lyndon Johnson|that one who did Nam']], [[Richard Nixon|that one paranoid crook]], [[Gerald Ford|that one klutz who pardoned the crook]], and [[Jimmy Carter|a guy cursed with bad luck]] — he was anointed Ronaldus Maximus I, defender of the realm, or Ronaldus Magnus, if you prefer Rush Limbaugh's version.

Reagan is probably one of the most, if not the most, misunderstood presidents in recent memory. Despite his [[Supply side economics|occasionally endearing wackiness]] and [[Climate change|disdain towards life-sustaining flora]], Reagan would, by twenty-first-century standards, be considered a perfect caricature of an agreeable liberal centrist keen on maintaining America's integrity and ensuring that effective policy is achieved via positive bipartisan solutions despite Teapublicans forever claiming he was a stalwart defender of strong, right-wing, conservative values, and "would never-ever dream of cooperating with brain-dead snowflake leftists on any issue, and even claiming that he even so much as resembles anyone left of [[Ted Cruz]] would be a clear indication that the individual making such a claim is a godless commie and [[Socialism|socialistic]] anti-American supporter of the [[deep state]]" as they would say.{{nofact}}

In all seriousness, the Republican Party of today [[Personality cult|treats him as if he were a deity of some sort]], often worshipping him as if [[hypocrisy|he ''were'' their one true god]]. In reality, if he were still alive today, they would probably treat him as if he were to the left of [[John McCain]], [[Rand Paul]], [[Mitt Romney]], or Lindsey Graham — ([[No True Scotsman|who aren't ''true'' Republicans]]): a pro-immigrant globalist [[RINO]] who hates America and [[Illegal immigration|wants to destroy the United States]] by letting in all of the [[Mexico|Mexicans]] and [[Islam|Jihadists]]. The right, being the [[Historical revisionism|revisionists]] they are, would probably never accept that he is basically a more [[Libertarian|libertarian]]-leaning [[Hillary Clinton]].<ref>Andrew O'Hehir, [https://www.salon.com/2014/08/02/is_hillary_clinton_the_true_heir_of_ronald_reagan/ Is Hillary Clinton the true heir of Ronald Reagan?]. Salon, 2 August 2014.</ref>

If you want to know how the United States was transformed into an international laughingstock over the course of 40 years, this would be a good place to start.

=="Acting" career==
[[File:Publicity photograph of Ronald Reagan in 1940s.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Isn't he dreamy?]]

Ronnie's most famous roles include violating the "never play across from an [[goat|animal]]" dictum in ''Bedtime for Bonzo'' (1951), acting in [[United States Army| Army]] promotional films during [[World War II]], his part as "The Gipper" in a [[Fun:American football|football]] movie, and being [[President of the United States]] for eight years in the 1980s. Not that actors necessarily can't become great presidents — but [[Volodymyr Zelenskyy]] arguably had a more successful stint at the acting game.

Reagan (while still a Democrat) served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1937 to 1949. During that time he orchestrated one of the guild's largest [[strike]]s (which resulted in actors receiving higher royalties and residuals.<ref>[http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/what-reagan-did-for-hollywood/248391/?single_page=true What Reagan Did for Hollywood], ''The Atlantic''</ref>) He later did a 1967 to 1975 stint appearing as the Governor of the state of [[California]] ([[Arnold Schwarzenegger|but who hasn't?]]). Oddly enough, despite being SAG president, he became a zealous [[trade union|union]]-buster who de-fanged American organized [[labor]] and cast unions as lazy [[pinko commie|pinko thugs]], sending them into a downward spiral that continues to this day, which included eviscerating wages and working-conditions.<ref>[http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/looking-for-the-root-causes-of-inequality-in-all-the-wrong-places/ US/Canada comparison of productivity and compensation].</ref> Apparently, the noble and hard-working actor [[Hypocrisy|needs a union]], whereas the miner, factory worker, and air-traffic controller do not. 

Don't give him too much credit, however. When working in Hollywood he also helped out Joseph McCarthy and HUAC through telling the FBI of suspected communists in Hollywood at the time.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-26-mn-26394-story.html Reagan Told FBI of Suspected Hollywood Communists in ‘40s]</ref> Of specific note is his testimony to HUAC in 1947,{{efn|On the same day as Walt Disney's testimony, which occurred because he was in the middle of a dispute with his company and came to the conclusion communists were responsible for the issues he was having as opposed to the poor business practices which had been plaguing Disney since the release of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsP71i7O49U Defunctland: The Craziest Party Walt Disney Ever Threw]</ref>}} where he said that labor disputes in Hollywood were allowing for communist infatuation.<ref>[https://www.reaganfoundation.org/media/51313/red-scare.pdf Reagan, Hollywood & The Red Scare]</ref>

===War hero===
Ronnie claimed more than once that he was present during the daring liberation of a [[Nazi]] [[concentration camp]].<ref>[http://www.salon.com/2010/05/20/bushreagan/ Bush lied about his military service, and so did Reagan], ''Salon''. (''Bang! BLAM! Then we cut to commercial.'')</ref> He was actually describing a [[Hollywood]] film. However, he did serve in the Army from 1942 to 1945.<ref>[https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sreference/military-service-of-ronald-reagan Military Service of Ronald Reagan]. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum (reaganlibrary.gov).</ref>

==Odd term in California and rise to prominence==
Reagan's term as governor of California is a strange look into what Republicans were like before their party was taken over by men like, well, Ronald Reagan. As governor he "erased a substantial budget deficit inherited from the Edmund G. Brown administration (through the largest tax increase in the history of any state to that time)."<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ronald-Reagan/Governorship-of-California Governorship of California of Ronald Reagan]</ref> He signed gun control into law, primarily in response to guns being used by the Black Panthers.<ref>[https://abc7news.com/california-gun-control-black-panther-party-laws-nra-mulford-act/13303767/ The NRA supported gun restrictions once in California. Is it rooted in racism?]</ref> He signed legislation easing access to abortion<ref>[https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/local-history/story/2022-06-28/from-the-archives-reagan-signed-california-law-easing-access-to-abortion-55-years-ago From the Archives: Reagan signed California law easing access to abortion 55 years ago]</ref> and made California the first state to allow for no-fault divorce.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/27/us/no-fault-divorce-explained-history-wellness-cec/index.html What is no-fault divorce, and why do some conservatives want to get rid of it?]</ref>

Reagan's rise to national prominence was based on his attacking campus [[anti-war]] protesters by falsely calling them "rioting with [[anarchy]]" in a 1966 campaign speech, writing in a 1967 letter to a California university president, "How far do we go in tolerating these people & this trash under the excuse of academic freedom & [[Freedom of speech|freedom of expression]]?" Reagan eventually called out the National Guard against anti-war protesters in Berkeley.<ref>[https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/ronald-reagan-unrest-college-campuses-1967 Ronald Reagan on the unrest on college campuses, 1967] ''The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History''.</ref><ref>''Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future'' by Jason Stanley (2024) One Signal Publishers / Atria. ISBN 9781668056912.</ref>{{rp|113-114}}<ref>{{wpa|1969 People's Park protest}}</ref>

==Presidential career==
[[File:Results of the 1980 Presidential Election.webp|165px|thumb|right|Results of the 1980 Presidential Election]]
[[File:Democrats for Reagan & Bush.jpg|165px|thumb|right|Democrats for Reagan & Bush Bumper Sticker, showing that even many Democrats were willing to support him.]]
{{main|Wedge issue}}

Reagan redefined politics in America. His influence can even be seen in the "New Democrats", who arose after Reagan ended the golden age of liberalism, which began with [[FDR]]. He turned millions of Democrats into Republicans (who were called "Reagan Democrats" and primarily consisted of socially conservative Democrats who voted for the party due to economic policy or because of tradition<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/democratic-party-can-t-win-back-mythical-reagan-democrats-without-ncna1038851 The Democratic Party can't win back mythical 'Reagan Democrats' without forsaking their principles]</ref>) and shifted the country rightward. And those aren't voters that the Democratic Party can quickly win back.

*[[Evangelical Christianity|Evangelicals]] who were deeply concerned about abortion and gay rights being normalized in America, which was kind of funny because Reagan never took an official stance on either issue<ref>Scher, Bill, [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/reagan-god-bless-america-120286 "When Reagan Dared to Say ‘God Bless America’"], Politico 7.17.15.</ref> 
*[[Gun nut]]s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X5Xjbnches (lol)] and [[sovereign citizen]] types who were terrified of Democrats stealing their guns and imposing martial law<ref>Weber, Peter, [http://theweek.com/articles/582926/how-ronald-reagan-learned-love-gun-control "How Ronald Reagan learned to love gun control"], ''The Week'' 12.3.15.</ref><ref>Pierce, Charles P., [http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a21375/don-mulford-makes-history-again/ "The Ghost Of Ronald Reagan"], ''Esquire'' 8.18.14.</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HaOYOyDftc Reagan: "Fascism, isn’t that the liberal philosophy?’"], ''60 Minutes Overtime'' 12.14.75.</ref>
*[[White nationalism|White nationalists]] who saw the demographic changes in America and felt helpless to stop it<ref>Herbert, Bob, [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13herbert.html "Righting Reagan’s Wrongs?"], [[NYT]] 11.13.07.</ref>

This is the base of the current Republican Party, so it looks like Reagan will have to take responsibility for this one. The good news is roughly half of Americans won't get off their asses to vote, so it didn't matter what his policy proposals even said at all.

Reagan had the benefit of running against a particularly unpopular President, Jimmy Carter. Even many Democrats were not a fan of his administration, launching an "Anybody But Carter" (ABC) Movement in an attempt to deny him the nomination.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/what-nevertrump-can-learn-from-anybody-but-carter-213860/ The Worst Way to Stop a Front-Runner]</ref> Ted Kennedy ran for President largely on the basis of hoping enough Democrats would support somebody different for him to get the nomination,<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/686186156/how-ted-kennedys-80-challenge-to-president-carter-broke-the-democratic-party How Ted Kennedy's '80 Challenge To President Carter 'Broke The Democratic Party']</ref> and even after Carter won the nomination Kennedy did everything possible to distance the Democratic Party from the Democratic President at the convention, doing things like attempting to include platform planks that were direct rebuts of actions of the President.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/21/camelots-end-kennedy-vs-carter-democratic-convention-1980-224030/ The Humiliating Handshake and the Near-Fistfight that Broke the Democratic Party]</ref> Of particular note was Kennedy not directly endorsing Carter during his speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, which many believe is what solidified Carter's loss to Reagan.<ref>[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-pulls-a-ted-kenn_b_11101328 Ted Cruz Pulls A Ted Kennedy From The 1980 Democratic Convention]</ref>

===Foul play?===
{{cquote|There shouldn't be unethical things in a campaign.<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|68}}}}
One of the most important parts of the election was the Iran Hostage Crisis, which occurred after "a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages" in 1979.<ref>[https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/iran-hostage-crisis Iran Hostage Crisis]</ref> It turns out, during the 1980 Presidential Campaign, the Reagan campaign decided to cut a deal with the Iranians behind the crisis, promising them that Reagan would give them a better deal if they refused to release the hostages after the election than Carter would.<ref>[https://theintercept.com/2023/03/24/october-surprise-ben-barnes/ A SHORT HISTORY OF EVERYONE WHO CONFIRMED REAGAN’S OCTOBER SURPRISE BEFORE THE NEW YORK TIMES]</ref> Given that many feel the Iran Hostage Crisis is what cost Carter the election,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election]</ref> many have since taken note that this is what caused Carter to be denied a second term.

Reagan also stole the debate book Carter used before their debate occurred in 1980.<ref>[https://newrepublic.com/article/89585/debategate-carter-reagan-debate-scandal Debategate]</ref>

===Dysfunction junction===
[[File:Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan aboard a boat in California 1964.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[God]] fearin' American with a wife and a flag.]]
A ballet dancer son did not go over well. A daughter who decided to run for the Senate (and support the [[Feminism|Equal-Rights Amendment]]) did not go over well either. In 1982, Ron and his brother Neil [[Asshole|helped to bury Maureen]], which is too bad since she would have been a more honorable public servant than her father.<ref>Robert Lindsey, [http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/16/weekinreview/election-preview-only-in-california.html Only in California], ''The New York Times'', 16 May 1982.</ref>

Ironically, the one person who could claim the title of "heir to Reagan" is his son [[Ron Reagan]] — a [[liberal]] and an [[atheist]] who had a radio show on [[Air America Radio]]. While making a guest appearance on ''Real Time'', Ron Reagan expressed his amusement at the fact that the modern GOP glorifies his father, having elevated him into godhood, which, as both he and [[Bill Maher]] agreed, is ironic because Reagan had several center-left social and economic policies that would not fly with today's far-right conservatives, which is pretty much the entire GOP these days.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqg2tSXZ6_Q Real Time with Bill Maher: Overtime]. Real Time with Bill Maher, YouTube, 25 September 2015.</ref> However, in an earlier episode, Bill Maher contradicted this and called "bullshit" on that stance, stating that "Ronald Reagan was an anti-government, union-busting, race-baiting, anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-intellectual who cut rich people's taxes in half, had an incurable case of the military-industrial complex and said Medicare was socialism that would destroy our freedom. Sounds like he would fit in just fine."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imjL8dfJVkA&t=7s Bill Maher New rules-- Ronald Reagan was the Original Teabagger]. The BMView, YouTube, 2013.</ref>

Michael Reagan (born John Flaugher<ref>Edmund Morris [http://www.newsweek.com/edmund-morris-reagan-and-alzheimers-66943 Reagan and Alzheimer's]. ''Newsweek,'' 23 January 2011. {{quotebox|Morris: "I was real proud when Dad came to my high school commencement," reports his son, Michael Reagan. After posing for photos with Michael and his classmates, the future president came up to him, looked right in his eyes, and said, "Hi, my name's Ronald Reagan. What's yours?" Poor Michael replied, "Dad, it's me. Your son. Mike.}}</ref>) might be more up your street. Similar to Reagan, [[Donald Trump|the Donald]] acts rather Alzheimerish at times, in contrast with how the billionaire asshole behaved back in the 1980s. In Reagan's case, it is kind of sad. For Trump, it is downright terrifying. Half of Reagan's domestic and economic policies were garbage. Still, at least the guy was a passionate and over-idealistic poster boy instead of a selfish, authoritarian opportunist with no policy at all. Trump has literally been trying and failing to make people think he is some sort of second coming of Reagan, even going as far as to appropriate Reagan's "Make America Great" slogan and adding an "again" at the end. The irony of this all is that Trump vocally expressed his dislike for Reagan on numerous occasions, never saying anything remotely positive about him until the 2015 race for the White House.<ref>Michael D’Antonio, [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/donald-trump-ronald-reagan-213288 When Donald Trump Hated Ronald Reagan]. Politico, 25 October 2015.</ref>

===Great obfuscator===
[[File:President Ronald Reagan receives the Tower Commission Report with John Tower and Edmund Muskie.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Uhhh...]]
{{cquote|In all of the books that have come out about the administration, it's been extremely difficult to hide the fact that Reagan didn't have the foggiest idea what was going on. Whenever he wasn't properly programmed, the things that would come out of his mouth were like—they weren't ''lies'', really, they were just kind of the babbling of a child. If a child babbles, it's not lies, it's just sort of on another plane. To be able to ''lie'', you have to have a certain degree of competence, you have to know what truth is. And [[Hanlon's razor|there didn't seem to be any indication that that was the case here.]]|||[[Noam Chomsky]]<ref>Chomsky, Noam, ''Understanding Power'' p.54., Penguin Books (2002).</ref>}}

In many ways, Reagan was sort of a peek into the [[Republican Party|Republicans']] future: why not make elections ''completely'' symbolic activities? The population can keep voting; we'll still have the caucuses, [[Reaganism|big promises]], eight candidates, a catchphrase for every occasion.<ref>Pitney Jr., John J., [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/palin-the-second-coming-of-reagan/ "Palin, The Second Coming Of Reagan"], ''[[National Review]] Online'' (1/3/08, 11:50 AM). '''Michael Reagan''': "Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he's a she."</ref><ref>Kelley, Marty, [http://wonkette.com/593764/donald-trump-is-your-new-ronald-reagan-but-dumber-and-less-classy "Donald Trump Is Your New Ronald Reagan, But Dumber And Less Classy"], Wonkette (9/10/15 11:00 am).</ref> But the people they're voting for will then be expected to just read off a teleprompter,<ref>Cannon, Lou, ''President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime'', PublicAffairs (2002). While he was governor, Reagan's aides had noticed early on that, in the words of Cannon, "he often did not remember what he had done and sometimes not even what he had said." (p. 630).</ref><ref>Corn, David, [http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2007/11/nixon-tape-reagan-was-shallow-and-limited-mental-capacity "Nixon on Tape: Reagan Was 'Shallow' and of 'Limited Mental Capacity'"], ''Mother Jones'' 11.15.02. '''[[Henry Kissinger|Kissinger]]''': He's shallow. He's got no—he's an actor. When he gets a line he does it very well. He said, 'Hell, people are remembered not for what they do, but for what they say. Can't you [[Style over substance|find a few good lines?]]' [Chuckles.] That's really an actor's approach to foreign policy."</ref> and won't know anything apart from what somebody tells them (and [[George W. Bush|sometimes not even that]]).

Reagan started to manifest Alzheimer's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8gN-GxiRD8&feature=youtu.be in his second term], according to his son [[Ron Reagan|Ron]],<ref>Plinkington, Ed, [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/17/ronald-reagan-alzheimers-president-son "Ronald Reagan had Alzheimer's while president, says son"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', (1/17/11 14.37 EST).</ref> though his brother Michael disputes this claim.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/15/son-suggests-reagan-alzheimers-president.html "Michael Reagan Slams Brother for Implying Their Father Had Alzheimer's as President"], [[Fox News]], 1/15/11</ref> It's definitely plausible that he was kept in the dark about the Contras, considering he couldn't remember the name of his chief-of-staff during the 1990 hearings. This was a concerted attempt by the administration to cast Reagan as an aloof, dim-witted president who didn't know what his aides, and often what he himself, was doing.<ref>Johnston, David, [http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/20/us/north-says-reagan-knew-of-iran-deal.html "North Says Reagan Knew of Iran Deal"], NYT 10.20.91.</ref> While the tactic ultimately proved beneficial during the investigation into Iran-Contra, it only solidified the public perception that Reagan was neither altogether "there" mentally or in control of his administration. It is to be said that, unlike [[Donald Trump|Baron von Nepotism]], Reagan, before 1979, was actually able to amass a pretty good cabinet, comprising both Republicans and Democrats, their positions each based on merit, because Ronald was probably intelligent enough to at the very ''least'' understand that he did not know squat about certain things.

===Assassination attempt===
{{cquote|Getting shot hurts.|||<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dear-diary-getting-shot-hurts-reagan/2007/05/02/1177788187275.html "Dear Diary: Getting shot hurts"], ''Sydney Morning Herald'' (5/2/07 - 10:28AM).</ref>}}
In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot Reagan in an unsuccessful attempt to impress Jodie Foster. It's worth mentioning that this made Reagan the president who broke the {{wpr|Curse of Tippecanoe}} (which means [[Dubya]] probably owes him a life debt).<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/18/AR2005051800470.html You thought we were kidding?!]</ref> Hinckley then spent his time in a psychiatric hospital until 2016. He now lives with his mother within a gated resort community in Williamsburg, Virginia, only a two-mile walk away from Busch Gardens. Few of the residents are actually aware of it. Foster has not visited him and has since come out as a [[lesbian]].

===A sterling record of fiscal conservatism===
[[File:ReaganDebt.png|thumb|right|Federal debt during the Reagan years: [[small government|Small gummint]] at work.]]
[[File:StRonnieRequestedBudgets.PNG|thumb|right|Those in [[denial]] will try to paint [[Congress]] as the "profligate spenders" who wouldn't let St. Ronnie have his fiscally conservative way. Right on that "not having his way" part, he often wanted to spend ''more'' than Congress. Whoops.<ref>Graph source: [http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CDOC-107sdoc18/pdf/GPO-CDOC-107sdoc18-1-12-4.pdf Government Printing Office numbers]</ref>]]
[[File:Broken Promises.png|165px|thumb|right|Broken Promises<ref>''Reagan's Reign of Error'' by Mark Green and Gail MacColl, page 64</ref>]]

{{cquote|You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter.|||[[Dick Cheney]] shows his hand<ref>Leung, Rebecca, [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-sought-way-to-invade-iraq/ "Bush Sought 'Way' To Invade Iraq?"] CBS News 1.9.04.</ref>}}
{{cquote|Balancing the budget is like protecting your virtue, you have to learn how to say no.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNmnmdtcdcg Ronald Reagan Sits Down with Johnny | Carson Tonight Show]</ref>}}

When it came to the federal budget, Reagan held the record for most spending by a [[conservative]] until, big surprise, [[Dubya]] came along. He ran up the debt to a height unseen since [[World War II]], blowing a massive load of dough on the [[SDI]] program. Reagan also founded the [[tax cuts|Church of Tax Cuts]] by accident. In the early 1980s, he implemented his [[supply side economics|trickle-down]] scheme with a massive tax cut, much of which went to those struggling multi-millionaires. However, he raised taxes later in his administration several times because he could learn from his mistakes. The current [[Republican Party]] has erased that last part from memory... as well as all those record deficits.

====Who's to blame?====
On the rare occasion Republicans acknowledge the record deficits, they typically argue that Reagan was not to blame, and that it was instead Democrats in Congress who caused it to explode. The issue with this claim is that, although Congressional spending did occasionally play a role in the increase in spending seen during this point in history, it is nowhere near as much as Reagan's defenders claim. Media Matters notes that "Ronald Reagan never submitted a balanced budget to Congress." They go on to point out "Reagan's own budget director placed the blame for deficits at the door of the Reagan White House, calling their economic plan a 'reckless, unstable fiscal policy based on the politics of high spending and the doctrine of low taxes," and quote Al Franken noting that "Over the eight years of the Reagan presidency , the Gipper asked Congress for $16.1 billion more in spending than it passed into law."<ref name=Misstating>''Misstating the state of the Union''</ref>{{rp|36-37}}

==Magic of the Marketplace==
{{cquote|Will we, before it is too late, use the vitality and the magic of the marketplace to save this way of life, or will we one day face our children, and our children's children when they ask us where we were and what we were doing on the day that freedom was lost?|||Reagan in 1977<ref>[https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganhillsdalecollege.htm What Ever Happened to Free Enterprise] by Ronald Reagan (10 November 1977) ''American Rhetoric''.</ref>}}
{{cquote|Reaganomics. Based on the belief that the rich had too little money and the poor had too much. That's classic Reaganomics. They believe that the poor had too much money and the rich had too little money so they engaged in reverse Robin Hood - took from the poor and gave to the rich, paid for by the middle class. We cannot stand four more years of Reaganomics in any version, in any disguise.|||Jesse Jackson<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/jesse/speeches/jesse88speech.html Address by The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson]</ref>}}
The 1977 speech that Reagan gave, from which the quote above came, was given at the annual Ludwig von Mises Memorial Lecture. The speech gave rise to the myth and soundbite ("Magic of the Marketplace") that Reagan gave frequently during his later presidency, encapsulating his anti-regulatory stance that capitalism can solve any problem.<ref name=oreskes>"The Magic of the Marketplace" by Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway. In: ''Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past'', edited by Kevin M. Kruse & Julian E. Zelizer (2022) Basic Books. ISBN 1541601394. Pages 129-140.</ref>{{rp|139}}

The ideology behind the quote have a long pedigree however, dating back to National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which began fighting business regulation in the 1930s when it had become explicitly libertarian.<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|131-132}} NAM's association with libertarianism can be dated to its 1939 convention when it began promoting an idea Sun Oil Company President J. Robert Pew, the idea of the inseparability or indivisibility of different types of freedom, those protected by the [[First Amendment]] and one that is not, "industrial freedom" (later promoted as "free enterprise").<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|131-133}} NAM also promoted the false ideas that free enterprise was a founding principle of the United States, and much later that the other freedoms followed from free enterprise<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|132-133,135}} The problem with these false ideas was that had to convince the public of things that were observationally false. The [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] largely rescued capitalism from the [[Great Depression]],<ref>"The New Deal" by Eric Rauchway. In: ''Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past'', edited by Kevin M. Kruse & Julian E. Zelizer (2022) Basic Books. ISBN 1541601394. Pages 141-153.</ref> not only were many [[Founding Fathers]] slave owners but slavery was written into the [[US Constitution]], and many [[Native American]] lands were expropriated.<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|133-134}} [[Marketing]] came to the rescue for NAM.

NAM was critical in finding employment for both [[Ludwig von Mises]] and Mises' student [[Friedrich Hayek]].<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|135-136}} Hayek's most influential book, ''The Road to Serfdom'' (1944),<ref>''The Road to Serfdom''by F. A. Hayek (1944) University of Chicago Press.</ref> was nuanced and rejected the idea of ''[[laissez-faire]]'' capitalism, making it unsuitable for general readers or industry [[propaganda]].<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|136-138}} Eventually, NAM members decided they needed an academic libertarian who would dispense with nuance and who could write a book with popular appeal. The man they found was [[Milton Friedman]] who wrote the very popular ''Capitalism and Freedom'' in 1962.<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|137-138}}<ref>''Capitalism and Freedom'' by Milton Friedman (1962) University of Chicago Press.</ref> These three men, Mises, Hayek and Friedman, were patrons of NAM, though they were never paid directly.<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|138}} Friedman continued his promotion of libertarianism to the public, eventually appearing in [[PBS]] TV series in 1980 called ''Free to Choose''.<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|139}} 1980 was also the year that Reagan became President and introduced the soundbite myth of the "Magic of the Marketplace" to the broader public.<ref name=oreskes/>{{rp|139}}

Reagan later seemingly conceded that the idea was an article of faith, that one had to have a "willingness to believe in the magic of the marketplace",<ref>[https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-annual-meeting-boards-governors-world-bank-group-and-international-monetary Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund] by Ronald Reagan (September 29, 1981) ''Ronald Reagan Presidential Library''.</ref> rather than it being a demonstrable fact.

====Junk bond bubble====
Then there was the Savings and Loan industry's unprecedented bailout, which was only eclipsed by the bailout following the 2008 [[banking crisis]]. Following [[deregulation]] of the S&Ls earlier in the decade, new S&Ls popped up like crazy and created a mini-housing bubble. In 1987, Reagan replaced the retiring [[Federal Reserve]] chairman Paul Volcker, one of the more sane and level-headed chairs in Fed history (whom the President relied on for stamping out [[inflation]]), with [[Alan Greenspan]], now remembered as one of the [[Great Recession|biggest airheads in Fed history]].<ref>[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c6c5bd36-0c0c-11de-b87d-0000779fd2ac.html Seeds of its own destruction], ''Financial Times''</ref> That being said, things would have gone a lot ''smoother'' economically if he would have [[Andrew Jackson|pulled a hickory]] and killed central banking. He would have had a much easier time doing this; he had nukes.

Greenspan promptly swooped in to save failing thrifts with easy money in conjunction with Reagan's big bailout after a wave of S&L failures. This managed to prop up enough zombie institutions to create a ticking time bomb that Reagan pawned off on [[George H. W. Bush]]. The S&L industry exploded again under Bush after an [[oil]] shock and market crash. Ultimately, the S&L scandals led to over 1,000 indictments by the time it all blew over. Economist [[John Kenneth Galbraith|JK Galbraith]] said of it:

{{cquote|In its shortest form, the scandal has been the extensive looting of the savings and loan associations, the looting being effectively that of government-supplied money. The total take is not yet known; it will certainly be upward of $200 billion, maybe much more, or several thousand dollars for every tax-paying American family. The golden misadventures of General and President Ulysses S. Grant and the greatly celebrated [[Warren G. Harding|Teapot Dome]] speculations of Harry F. Sinclair and Albert B. Fall, duly adjusted for changing currency values, are microscopic in comparison.<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/jan/18/the-ultimate-scandal/ The Ultimate Scandal], ''New York Review of Books''</ref>}}

===="The Reagan Boom"====
[[File:Ronald Reagan televised address from the Oval Office, outlining plan for Tax Reduction Legislation July 1981.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Big dollar sign! Big! Big!]]
A large part of Reagan's economic policy was a big military buildup. The Soviets' demise was in large part the result of their attempt to keep up. The stated philosophy of "less government and less spending" never actually came into play. Reaganomics, as a real practice, was a myth (very Republican).<ref>[[Paul Krugman|Krugman, Paul]], [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/opinion/krugman-reagan-was-a-keynesian.html "Reagan Was a Keynesian"], ''NYT'' 7.7.12.</ref> Aside from about four years of an inefficient economy, this sort of worked out in the end. Due to this buildup, which had the Soviets rightfully concerned, they just did not have the resources to contend with American Ascendancy's growing power. Three presidential administrations' worth of detente may have decreased tensions for a time, but it was viewed by many as appeasement, even if it came from good faith. The whole concept just did not work, and Reagan's ridiculous military expenditure is pretty much how the U.S. curb-stomped the commies into dust. If Reagan had not done so, the Cold War would have probably kept dragging out, and Reagan would be seen as just another meh president.

The Reagan tax cuts had ''zero'' to do with the advances in technology that we saw under Clinton. This is, in [[Al Franken]]'s words, the "crown jewel" of [[Revisionism|revisionist]] GOP bullshit: By crediting the tech boom to Reaganomics, they can claim credit for all of Clinton's successes while distancing themselves from Ron's failures.<ref>Mandel, Michael J., [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2004-06-20/reagans-economic-legacy "Reagan's Economic Legacy"], Bloomberg.</ref> Why was the internet invented (cue [[Al Gore]] joke)? Military spending. That takes taxes. How we communicate today? Fiber Optics. Completely subsidized by the government (as have been every upgrade in infrastructure since the start of the United States). 

We're not sure what planet you are living on in which a guy gets a tax break, suddenly becomes a programming genius, and walks out into his garage and creates ''Half-Life''. But we want some of those drugs. If they were available, maybe ''Mass Effect Andromeda'' would not have been such a goddamn disappointment. What happened to you, BioWare?

===Foreign policy switcheroo===
[[File:Reagan and Gorbachev hold discussions.jpg|thumb|right|300px|No, no, Mr. President! That man is a '''communist'''!]]
{{cquote|Freedom and democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on the [[Leon Trotsky|ash heap of history]].|||The little comment that led to the worst [[nuclear war|nuclear confrontation]] since the [[Cuba]]n Missile Crisis.<ref>"{{wpl|Able Archer 83|The more experience I had with Soviet leaders and other heads of state who knew them, the more I began to realize that many Soviet officials feared us not only as adversaries but as potential aggressors who might hurl nuclear weapons at them in a first strike...if that was the case, I was even more anxious to get a top Soviet leader in a room alone and try to convince him we had no designs on the Soviet Union and Russians had nothing to fear from us}}." Then what was the point of your whole damn Doctrine?</ref> Whoops.}}
{{cquote|I'm satisfied that we do have a foreign policy.<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|26}}}} 
Reagan is probably most remembered today for using his [https://youtube.com/watch?v=TAES1HUIVkE Reagan Smash] to destroy the [[Soviet Union]]. Or so conservatives would have you [[Historical revisionism|believe]].<ref group=note>Reagan sleepy...</ref> His rhetoric was undoubtably anti-communist, with Kenneth Franklin Kurz noting in his history of the Reagan years that he "effectively revered to the rhetoric of the 1950s, though two of his predecessors, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon, had attempted to thaw Cold War relations by opening arms-control negotiations with the Soviet Union and making diplomatic overtures to normalize relations with the People's Republic of China . . . Reagan was unequivocally hostile to Communism, in a way that American foreign-policy leaders had not been, at least publicly, since Nixon visited China in 1972."<ref>''The Reagan years A to Z:an alphabetical history of Ronald Reagan's presidency'' by Kenneth Franklin Kurz</ref>{{rp|5-6}} However, what he actually did in regards to policy is much more complicated.

In reality, after his near-disastrous "evil empire" rhetoric{{efn|Firstgien through a speech which historian Henry Selle Commager called "the worst presidential speech in American history, and I've read all of them.<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|63}}}} and attempts to heat up a new arms race, Reagan actually worked closely with Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]... which many Republicans at the time blasted him for.<ref>[[Newt Gingrich]] is a particularly good example. He called [http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/01/newt-gingrich-vs-ronald-reagan-brief-history Reagan's summit with Gorbachev] "the most dangerous summit for the West since [[Godwin's Law|Adolf Hitler met with Chamberlain in 1938 at Munich]]."</ref> We don't negotiate with 
terr'ists
 [[Communism|commies]]. The Soviet Union was {{wpl|Era of Stagnation|already collapsing under its own weight}}. The death of Leonid Brezhnev, coupled with the collapse in OPEC [[oil]] prices (that Reagan had little to no control over<ref>[http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/mar/13/michael-reagan/ronald-reagans-son-says-his-father-got-saudis-pump/ Ronald Reagan's son says his father got the Saudis to pump more oil to undercut USSR], PolitiFact</ref>), opened up the way for [[liberal]]ization when {{wpl|Gerontocracy|transitional leaders}} like Andropov and Chernenko died in quick succession.<ref group=note>You would expect conservatives to mention this more often. But no, "the greatness of American military power" is apparently a better argument than "the [[command economy]] was [http://www.theatlantic.com/past/politics/foreign/reagrus.htm woefully inefficient all along.]"</ref> Gorbachev, who was something of a Hail Mary attempt to keep the USSR together, started a new era of reform through ''glasnost'' and ''perestroika''. Reagan managed to find himself in the right place at the right time and take advantage of this situation. One speech about a [[Berlin Wall|wall]] and voila, an instant hero of the galaxy.

To be fair, prominent Soviet bloc dissidents such as Lech Walesa and Natan Sharansky do tend to see Reagan as a pivotal figure, not so much due to his policies but because they see him as providing the inspiration needed to get independent movements within the USSR off the ground.<ref>Walesa, Lech, [http://www.tommyduggan.com/VP070204lech.html "Lech Walesa on Reagan, Valley Patriot"]</ref><ref>[http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/5446 "The View From The Gulag"], ''The Weekly Standard''</ref><ref group=note>What is missing from this picture is the role of the 1975 {{wpl|Helsinki Accords}} which enabled dissidents through the USSR assenting, in principle, to respect "human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief". The Accords were negotiated by 
Gerald Who?
 [[Gerald Ford]] although [[Henry Kissinger]] saw the whole deal as liberal window dressing. By contrast, Ford's successor, 
Satan
 [[Jimmy Carter]], used the USSR's recognition of these human rights to expose the Soviet hypocrisy in proclaiming all kinds of human rights on paper while remaining a totalitarian dictatorship</ref> Gorbachev himself also credits Reagan as having been instrumental in ending the Cold War.<ref>[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5148407/ns/us_news-the_legacy_of_ronald_reagan/t/gorbachev-calls-reagan-great-president/ "Gorbachev calls Reagan 'great president'"], ''NBC News''</ref> Still, not much actually came of Reagan and Gorbachev's talks (though the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate-Range_Nuclear_Forces_Treaty INF Treaty] was significant). The end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, etc., all happened after Reagan left office. Reagan just had some damn good charisma and was an appropriate figurehead needed at the time for morale. Actual policy on domestic and foreign issues aside, both of them being particularly strong in one area (and not so strong at the other), President [[Obama]], the [[Roman emperor|Trajan]] of our age, had a lot in common with Reagan in terms of how they presented themselves, and how they were able to both provide solid civic leadership skills during their respective decades.<ref>https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/is-obama-the-new-reagan/</ref>

===Ronnie's tomfoolery===
[[File:Reagan sitting with people from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region in February 1983.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Ronnie in the Oval Office with some [[Afghanistan|Afghani]] "freedom fighters."]]
With 138 officials implicated, the Reagan administration went down as one of the most corrupt in history.<ref>{{wpa|Reagan administration scandals}}</ref> The stuff that never stuck to Teflon Ron include:

*[[Iran-Contra]]
*Rigging HUD loans, for which 16 members of the [[White House]] and the Department of Housing and Urban Development were convicted.
*St. Ronnie's Chief of Staff and Press Secretary were fined and probated for illegal [[lobbying]] activities.
*"Sewergate," which funneled [[EPA]] money into Republican campaigns. Twenty EPA higher-ups were removed from office.
*Inslaw Affair in which the Department of Justice was accused of [[pirate|pirating]] software. Never investigated.
*Creating the Office of Public Diplomacy, which was shut down in 1987 for illegally disseminating pro-Contra [[propaganda]] and harassing, threatening and slandering journalists who refused to go along.  
*Smuggling [[cocaine]] into the US to finance his overseas agenda.
*Operation Cyclone in which the American government sold weapons to Islamic terrorists fighting the Soviets, which contributed to the later rise of [[Al-Qaeda]].
*Supporting brutal African dictators including but not limited to Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Hissène Habre of Chad, and Samuel Doe of Liberia.

Reagan was a particular favorite trope of celebrated [[futurism|futurist]] author J.G. Ballard. A chapter in his 1969 modernist novel ''The Atrocity Exhibition'' was entitled ''Why I Want To Fuck Ronald Reagan'', and saw Ballard successfully prosecuted for obscenity in a [[UK]] court. The chapter was written as a kind of bizarre [[public relations]] study from some crackpot [[think tank]]. Ballard once had copies of it distributed to delegates at a Republican conference, who [[Poe's Law|did not seem to realize]] it was a piece of [[satire]]. Considering what would come next, Ballard may have been a bit too early.

One of his more long-lasting actions was to appoint leaders of a conservative bill mill called [[American Legislative Exchange Council|ALEC]] to his White House Task Force on Federalism; the ALEC goons developed and implemented state policies that led to lower taxes and less regulation on businesses. Now in the bed of the Republican apparatus, ALEC won support from major corporate and individual donors, who pushed through their policies on the state level. Such policies advocated by ALEC include voter disenfranchisement, for-profit schools, private prisons, payday loan companies, Stand Your Ground bills, and restricting union influence.<ref>http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/white-house-elizabeth-warren-reach-out-to-state-governments-115782.html#ixzz3TY9Zelse</ref>

===Angel of Death===
[[File:ReaganSmokes.jpeg|thumb|upright|The Gipper promotes the good ol' fashioned American value of [[smoking]]. Oh, what's that in your lung?]]{{cquote|Sick unfortunates.|||What you definitely want the "leader of the free world" to say during a global health crisis.<ref>[http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/advocate-45/2012/08/21/45-biggest-homophobes-our-45-years?page=full The 45 Biggest Homophobes of Our 45 Years], ''The Advocate''</ref>}}
{{cquote|We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry every night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet.|||Reagan on the issue of national hunger<ref>[https://libquotes.com/ronald-reagan/quote/lbx8o4r We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry every night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet.]</ref>}}
Reagan arguably helped cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American citizens — if not tens of millions of people worldwide — by [[willful ignorance|vehemently ignoring]] the growth of a new [[epidemic]] that occurred during his time in office: [[AIDS#History|AIDS]].<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Reagan-s-AIDS-Legacy-Silence-equals-death-2751030.php Reagan's AIDS Legacy: Silence equals death], ''San Francisco Chronicle''</ref> In April 1987, one member of the White House even admitted "that President Reagan has never discussed AIDS with Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and has yet to read Koop's six-month-old report, which predicted 180,000 deaths from the disease by 1991."<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|195}}{{efn|AIDS ended up killing 100,777 people in the United States during the 1980s,<ref>[https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001880.htm Current Trends Mortality Attributable to HIV Infection/AIDS -- United States, 1981-1990]</ref>}}

He allowed [[Nelson Mandela]], for no reason other than [[Apartheid|irrational hatred of black people]], to be targeted as a [[terrorist]] threat,<ref>[http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/us-government-considered-nelson-mandela-terrorist-until-2008-f2D11708787 US government considered Nelson Mandela a terrorist until 2008], NBC (The administration's typical "[[Red-baiting|He was a Marxist]]!" excuse could be seen straight through for what it was, even for [http://www.macleans.ca/politics/canadas-support-for-nelson-mandela-wasnt-always-so-steadfast/ Brian Mulroney.])</ref> and when [[Congress]] passed an anti-apartheid bill, he vetoed it, if for no other reason than to please racist donors.<ref>His lies on the nature of apartheid would also [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/06/13/the-global-boom-in-fact-checking/ pave the way for modern-day political fact-checking.]</ref>{{efn|They would override his veto with a supermajority, the only time in the 20th century a foreign policy veto was quashed.<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/1986-10-03/news/mn-4137_1_south-africa "(You) will be judged harshly by history."] - Desmund Tutu</ref>}} And it would not be the only time he would pander to them.{{efn|See ''[[Coit v. Green]]'' and the Civil Rights Restoration Act veto.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/23/us/house-and-senate-vote-to-override-reagan-on-rights.html House And Senate Vote To Override Reagan On Rights] by Irvin Molotsky (March 23, 1988) ''The New York Times''.</ref> Reagan also pandered to the [[John Birch Society]] on several occasions, including repeating the JBS's false claim that [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] was a communist.<ref>''Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right'' by Matthew Dallek (2023) Basic Books. ISBN 1541673565.</ref>{{rp|219-220}}}}

On the topic of South Africa, Reagan was a famous spin-doctor for the apartheid government. Although he never defended apartheid, he constantly denied it even existed. In 1985 he said that the nation had "eliminated the segregation we once had in our country." (They hadn't.) He said "Blacks can own property in heretofore white areas." (They couldn't.) The following year, he claimed "The infamous pass laws have ended." (It hadn't.) <ref>''Reagan's Reign of Error'' by Mark Green and Gail MacColl, page 144-145</ref>{{efn|Larry Speakes, when asked by reporters if Reagan actually believed this, said "Not totally, no."<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|139}}}}

[[File:President Ronald Reagan with President Hissène Habré of Chad.jpg|left|thumb|306x306px|[[Ronald Reagan]] with Habré at the [[White House]]]]
He saw it perfectly acceptable to support a plethora of bloodthirsty [[dictator]]s and terrorists, so long as they were fighting against those evil commies.<ref>[http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/01/23/our_man_in_africa_hissene_habre_chad_reagan Our Man in Africa], ''Foreign Policy''</ref> One of the first major covert actions of the Reagan administration involved providing paramilitary support to Chadian militants led by warlord Hissène Habré in a 1982 coup d'état, to "bloody Gaddafi's nose", as Alexander Haig put it. In May 2016, Habré was found guilty of human-rights abuses, including [[rape]], [[Slavery|sexual slavery]], and ordering the killing of 40,000 people, resulting in his life imprisonment.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=May 30, 2016 |title=Hissene Habre: Chad's ex-ruler convicted of crimes against humanity|url=http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36411466|work=BBC|location= |access-date=March 27, 2017 }}</ref> Other freedom fighters supported by the administration include [[Augusto Pinochet]] in [[Chile]], [[Suharto]] in [[Indonesia]], [[Saddam Hussein]] in [[Iraq]] (against [[Iran]]... the [[irony]], it burns of chemical weapons), Hosni Mubarak in [[Egypt]], Jonas Savimbi in Angola, General [[Efraín Ríos Montt]] in Guatemala, and the [[junta]] in El Salvador.<ref group=note>Reagan dramatically increased military aid to El Salvador at a time when the country's regular security forces and officially sanctioned government death squads killed or disappeared thousands of persons annually. The number of persons killed by the Salvadorian regime between 1978 and 1983 exceeds 40,000. Reagan also circumvented a 1977 arms embargo to send material support to the government in Guatemala, which was carrying out a genocidal counterinsurgency war against the indigenous population. Famously immortalized in a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQAFKYTdFNA U2 song.]</ref> He authorized billions of dollars worth of financial support and armament for [[Afghanistan]] which got [[Blowback|picked up]] by a fellow known to be [[Osama bin Laden|the son of a man named Laden]].

This lack of tact led to the budget-cutting of non-military programs, including Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs, and the EPA. While he protected entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, his administration attempted to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls, which is effectively a cut as well.

[[Murder]] — it has many faces and is most ugly when its face is power. Sounds like a typical president.

==Ascent to God's side==
Shortly after his presidency, Reagan began a long and (as it always is) ugly battle with Alzheimer's disease, and in the last years of his life, made very few public appearances. Upon his death in June 2004, a weeklong period of worldwide mourning occurred. All non-essential [[lulz|activities]] were curtailed so The People could weep for their fallen idol. Also, any taxes due on income earned (or unearned) during that period were waived. The processions as his open casket was brought around the countryside would often stretch for tens of miles as well-wishers offered St. Reagan one final "[[Godspeed]]."

He was canonized upon the instant of his death, by popular acclamation. Republicans were not the only ones to shout out his name at any chance they could. President Obama had a habit of ''often'' calling out Reagan for being "so amazing", whatever that means...

==WWRD?==
[[File:President Reagan addresses Congress 1981.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Smiles all around!]]
When Reagan was elected, there was an immediate wave of news articles and magazines asking the hot question, ''Just how did this amazing man get to be so wonderful?'' The answer was given as ''he hires the best people for the job, and gets out of the way!''<ref>Lescaze, Lee, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/1981/01/20/the-reagan-organizational-style-management-over-easy/5fafd8b1-7e3c-4be1-be86-0cdb708a5967/ "The Reagan Organizational Style: Management, Over Easy"], WaPo 1.20.81.</ref> And that legacy is still with us: the idea that a manager doesn't have to really do ''anything'' except settle disputes, usually by throwing one or more subordinates to the wolves. It would help if managers from the CEO on down did their fucking jobs, which is to manage and not just "get out of the way."<ref>Reilly Dowd, Ann, [http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1986/09/15/68052/index.htm "What Managers Can Learn From Reagan"], ''Fortune'' 9.15.86.</ref>

Let's not forget Reagan's busting of PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization). While Reagan was in favor of the right to organize and bargain collectively, he opposed government worker strikes because it's illegal. Reagan’s dismissal of skilled strikers somewhat unwittingly led to a dramatic decrease in unionized labor power. Workers in the private sector had used the strike as a tool of leverage since World War II. But after Patco, that weapon was largely lost. Reagan’s unprecedented dismissal of skilled public workers encouraged private employers to follow suit. Phelps Dodge and International Paper were among the companies that imitated Reagan by replacing strikers rather than negotiating with them.<ref>Kilborn, Peter T., [http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/13/us/replacement-workers-management-s-big-gun.html "Replacement Workers: Management's Big Gun"], NYT 3.13.90.</ref>

Over time, the rightward-shifting Republican Party has come to view Reagan’s mass firing not as a focused effort to stop one rogue union from breaking the law (as Reagan sold it). Rather, it was a blow against unionism itself.<ref>Rucker, Phillip, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/02/28/scott-walker-calls-reagans-bust-of-air-traffic-controller-strike-most-significant-foreign-policy-decision/ "Scott Walker calls Reagan’s bust of air traffic controller strike ‘most significant foreign policy decision’"], WaPo 2.28.15.</ref> Without a counterweight to management power, it's not at all that surprising that upper management and shareholders have taken a larger and larger share of profits—and then used that newfound wealth to lobby for tax policies that let them keep as much of it as possible.<ref>Bryson Hodel, Martha, [http://articles.latimes.com/1995-09-08/business/fi-43678_1_real-wages "Real Wages, Union Strength Declining as Corporate Profits Rise : Labor: Some say workers' organizations need a shot in the arm. Upcoming AFL-CIO elections will pit the old guard against a new generation of leaders."], ''L.A. Times'' (via Associated Press), 9.8.95.</ref> Worse yet, they have conned working-class people into believing that the most affluent Americans are job creators right out of an Ayn Rand novel, and the rest of us are just leeching off their genius.<ref>Edsall, Thomas A., [http://www.pewresearch.org/2011/02/22/in-showdown-with-air-traffic-controllers-the-public-sided-with-reagan/ "Republicans Sure Love to Hate Unions"], NYT 9.18.14. '''Steve Rosenthal''' of AFL-CIO: "Damn it, this guy was talking about his father and brother. He was pissed that his own father and brother had pensions.”</ref>

Since Reagan was ''the'' proto-neoconservative, [[personality cult|anything he did was infallible]], and his successors sought to mimic his every move. When you think Reagan, you think of small government, facing down foreign powers and giving the Democrats a drubbing. These are very much things the Republicans are still emphatic about accomplishing. When you think of Lincoln, you think of him freeing the slaves and reuniting a divided country using progressive social change. Not so much on the agenda right now. Reagan just makes a better philosophical touchstone for their immediate goals. This later led to the modern divide in the GOP though, with the whole neo and [[Paleoconservatism|paleo]] divide, with the latter group being the self-anointed "Disciples of Reagan", while to the neoconservatives' credit, they have, as of late, proved to be far more reasonable, level-headed, and moderate than their [[Ted Cruz|Wacko-bird]] counterparts, being the far more Reagan-esque ones. Even creepier, the paleocons seem to have this odd Reagan fetish, continually wanting to stroke the Gipper whenever they get the chance. Likely, they do not even remember who in the nine circles of hell Reagan even was. The paleocons rose as reactionaries to the neoconservative policies at the time. Many of those former Reagan voters ended up endorsing, get this, [[Bill Clinton]].<ref>Jeffrey Schmalz, [http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/04/nyregion/1992-election-nation-s-voters-clinton-carves-wide-path-deep-into-reagan-country.html The 1992 Election: The Nation's Voters; Clinton Carves a Wide Path Deep Into Reagan Country]. ''The New York Times'', 4 November 1992.</ref> That being said, save for maybe some guys down in the Rust Belt, the average supporter of the Ronald would not have voted for the Donald.

Though he generally did not discuss social issues, specifically while serving as president (most likely not to piss off his socially conservative supporters), Reagan, very similar to Barry Goldwater, seemed to be more in favor of things such as abortion and gay rights. Precisely, in regards to the former, his more tolerant stance on the issue is best indicated by the fact that he actually signed pro-choice bills while he served as governor of California. While Reagan is admittedly responsible for bringing the evangelicals into the Republican Party, he had always been aligned with the more libertarian "New Right" that arose during the 1960s, along with individuals such as Goldwater himself and [[National Review]] founder [[William F. Buckley]], even going so far as to say "the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/opinion/republicans-libertarians-economics.html Republicans Are Ripping Out ‘the Very Heart and Soul’ of Their Party]</ref> Though the "Republican Revolution" of 1994 took the Conservative Movement rightward, where the word "conservative" came to imply "social conservatism" as opposed to its original meaning in the 1960s. Back then, "conservatism" was less a reactionary fundamentalist dogma and was instead simply a term used to describe their ideological ethos, or "the conservation of Classical Liberalism" - when the Republicans ''actually'' wanted small government (not the "small" government they want today), cared about civil liberties, and considered themselves to be the "party of immigration" (New Deal social democrats generally opposed increased immigration, due to being supported by unions and being generally for a [[welfare state]]); also, ironically, one major issue that they passionately believed in was the Separation of Church and State. However, after twenty-five years of libertarian-dominance, Reagan and his GOP could do nothing to stop the Religious Right's steady coup to co-opt the party for their own, which would significantly affect specific issues.

But, in contrast to this much-forgotten Republican era of liberalism, it is also to be argued that the world in 1980 was not the same as it is today (like the Soviet Union not existing).<ref>[http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/on-foreign-policy-conservatives-should-leave-ronald-reagan-behind/ "On Foreign Policy, Conservatives Should Leave Ronald Reagan Behind"], Outside the Beltway (And this is relatively kind.)</ref> Nonetheless, this minor temporal detail has not stopped various Republicans from claiming the mantle of ({{wpl|Bob Dole|or}} [[George W. Bush|being]] [[John McCain|procl]][[Mitt Romney|aimed]] [[Donald Trump|as]]) the [[Second Coming]] of Reagan.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/30/GOPdebate.transcript/ For another good example of crap like this] (pay careful attention to [[Mitt Romney]]).</ref>

It's gotten so bad that Republican strategists believe it's singlehandedly suffocating the party.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24574589 "Ronald Reagan is dead and they need to accept it."]</ref>

===Reagan and astrology===
{{cquote|Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up [[horoscope]]s to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise.|||Donald T. Regan, White House Chief of Staff from 1985-1987<ref>''For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington'' by Donald T. Regan (1988) Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0151639663.</ref>{{rp|3}}}}
Reagan and his wife Nancy was obsessed with [[astrology]] (apparently the administration's "most closely guarded secret"<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/us/joan-quigley-astrologer-to-a-first-lady-is-dead-at-87.html Joan Quigley, Astrologer to a First Lady, Is Dead at 87], ''The New York Times''</ref>), and this brand of [[woo]] played a large role in the Reagan White House, even affecting the scheduling of the [[Iceland|Reykjavik]] summit between Reagan and Gorbachev.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/05/19/back.time/ Good Heavens!], CNN, May 16, 1988.</ref><ref>[https://timeline.com/ronald-reagan-astrology-quigley-aa81632662d9 Ronald Reagan actually used this San Francisco astrologist to make presidential decisions] by Allen McDuffee, Timeline.com, May 30, 2017</ref> Strangely enough, this doesn't seem to have affected his support from the [[fundie]] base one jot or tittle.

===Reagan's policies today===
Hilariously, if Ronald Reagan were to run today, he would probably be considered a [[RINO]] given his willingness to raise the capital gains tax to 28%, refrain from waving an axe at [[Social Security]], be prodded into funding [[Japanese American internment#Response|Japanese reparations]],<ref>[http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Civil_Liberties_Act_of_1988/ Civil Liberties Act of 1988], Densho Encyclopedia</ref> pull out of Lebanon rather than 'stay the course,' and engage in [[diplomacy]] with the Soviets. He also supported, of all things, limited [[gun control]],<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/29/opinion/why-i-m-for-the-brady-bill.html His own words]</ref> an end to the use of [[torture]],<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=35858 Message to the Senate Transmitting the Convention Against Torture and Inhuman Treatment or Punishment], UC Santa Barbara</ref> and gave amnesty to more than 3 million [[illegal immigration|undocumented immigrants]],<ref>{{wpa|Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986}}</ref> in addition to signing a pro-choice bill as Governor and setting up a healthcare system in California. Last but not least, like fellow episcopalian conservatives Barry Goldwater, [[Tucker Carlson]], and [[Ron Paul]], he, like most of his early party, was also a rather big fan of [[separation of church and state]],<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWM8W0U6fX0 Reagan on separation of church and state](YouTube)</ref> much to the shock of many of today's [[Dominionism|religious ideologues]].

==Proud of His Ignorance==
{{cquote|I never knew anything above Cs.<ref>[https://thereaganyears.tripod.com/reaganquotes.htm Was He Really that Dumb?]</ref>}}
{{cquote|At halftime during its Thanksgiving football game, CBS broadcast an interview with Ronald Reagan in which the President-elect reminisces about his days as a radio sportscaster and recalls his penchant for enhancing events by "making things up."|||Paul Slansky<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|13}}}}
{{cquote|None of us really understand what's going on with all these numbers|||David Stockman<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|32}}}}
One of the most telling things about Reagan, especially at the time, is just how ignorant he was when compared to other Presidents. [[Ralph Nader]] once quipped that he was the first President to own more horses than books,<ref>Reagan's Reign of Error by Mark Green and Gail MacColl, page 12</ref> and left-wing authors Mark Green and Gail MacColl wrote two entire books (''There He Goes Again'' in 1983 and ''Reagan's Reign of Error'' in 1987) documenting his various mistakes over the course of his time in the public.

Mind you, everybody makes a mistake here or there--and even [[Joe Biden|somebody unusually prone to slip ups wouldn't be a terrible political leader on the condition they were actually interested in the truth]], and this is where Reagan's Administration really dropped the ball. On various occasions, they were caught directly lying to the American people, and instead of just admitting a mistake--or even attempting to defend it--they would just openly admit to not caring about how wrong they were. Examples include: 

*Reagan cited a non-existent British law which states that a criminal found to be carrying a gun will be tried of first degree murder regardless of crime and executed if found guilty. When it was pointed out this was wrong, Press Secretary Larry Speaks simply said "Well, it's a good story though. It made the point, didn't it?"<ref>Reagan's Reign of Error by Mark Green and Gail MacColl, page 82 and 83</ref> Speaks responded to another incorrect claim from Reagan by saying "If you tell the same story five times, it's true."<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|79}}{{efn|The famous “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth" quote attributed to Joseph Goebbels having a striking similarity to this line is not something that bothers Reagan, even though it obviously should.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20161026-how-liars-create-the-illusion-of-truth How liars create the ‘illusion of truth’]</ref>}}
*Reagan mocked then-President Jimmy Carter calling the economy a recession and not a depression, while adding that Reagan's misuse of the term "shows how little he knows." When Reagan's aide Lyn Nofziger was asked about, he said "I think it was Mondale who said that, and he didn't say it the same day [Reagan had said the economy was in a depression]. I think it was the day after, but it's good enough for us."<ref>Reagan's Reign of Error by Mark Green and Gail MacColl, page 51</ref>
*Reagan defended his support for an anti-abortion bill by saying "I think the fact that children have been prematurely born even down to three-month stage and have lived to, the record shows, to grow up and be normal human beings, that ought to be enough for all of us." An aide of his later explained no such record existed, and that Reagan knew this.<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|50-51}}
*When George H.W. Bush's Press Secretary was asked about mistakes Bush had made in a televised debate, he replied "if reporters document that a candidate spoke untruthfully, so what? Maybe two hundred people read it."<ref>Reagan's Reign of Error by Mark Green and Gail MacColl, page 14</ref>

Reagan would even sometimes make fun of those who were more educated than he was. During the 1980 campaign, he said that "when the American people cried out for economic help, Jimmy Carter took refuge behind a dictionary."<ref>[https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2008/09/the-difference-between-a-depression-and-a-recession.html You Say Depression, I Say Recession]</ref> As if attempting to use words which actually express a situation accurately is something to be made fun of.

===That Time Reagan Lied About Telling The Truth===
Early on in his career, Reagan would tell a story about the importance of telling the truth: You see, back when he was playing for his high school football team, Reagan scored what would have been the winning touchdown had he not been offside. Reagan then informed the ref about this; it was ruled a penalty and his team lost the game, but nobody was angry because he told the truth.

When Reagan biographer Lou Cannon looked into this, he could only find one game which matched Reagan's description, and his team lost 24–0.<ref>''Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations'' by Al Franken (Delacorte Press, 1996) ISBN 0-385-31474-4</ref>{{rp|97}}

==Ronnie the racist?==
{{cquote|Turns out that God really doesn't have that much of a problem with racism. He doesn't even remember slavery, except in February. Personally, I hate black people, Ruckus. That's why I did everything I could to make their lives miserable. Crack? Me. AIDS? Me. Reaganomics? (chuckles) C'mon. I'm in the name.|||''The Boondocks'': "The Passion of Reverend Ruckus" Aaron McGruder & Rodney Barnes}}
One of the most common criticisms of Reagan is that he was a racist, with the evidence usually being his harmful effects on the black community and a handful of specific comments he made. For example, in 2019 audio was leaked of him calling African delegates to the United Nations "monkeys" who are "still uncomfortable wearing shoes" in a 1971 phone call with then-president [[Richard Nixon]].<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ronald-reagan-called-african-u-n-delegates-monkeys-call-richard-n1037171 Ronald Reagan called African U.N. delegates 'monkeys' in call with Richard Nixon, audio recording reveals]</ref> Patti Davis, Reagan's daughter, later noted that she was unable to believe Reagan made the remarks because he never knew the man to have racist tendencies.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49207451 Ronald Reagan: No defence for 'monkeys' remark, says daughter]</ref>

However, even giving Reagan the benefit of the doubt, there is notable evidence that Reagan was, at the very least, perfectly fine with buddying around with racists and repeating their rhetoric. [[Gore Vidal]] noted in 1968 that Reagan had spent a large chunk of the 1960s campaigning for various segregationists and far-right groups, concluding he was not a friend to the black man.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypv7etrd_lI Gore Vidal owns Ronald Reagan]</ref> His "[[welfare queen]]" rhetoric was infamously racialized and used as a way to promote the stereotype that black people were lazy and using welfare paid for by hard working white people.<ref>[https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/josh-levin-the-queen-book-review/ The Price You Pay]</ref> His 1976 campaign used opposition to forced busing as a way to get supporters of George Wallace to cross over,<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/43855884 Ronald Reagan's Use of Race in the 1976 and 1980 Presidential Elections]</ref> and his 1980 Presidential Campaign infamously gave a speech on "states rights" "mere miles away from the site where three civil rights workers — one a student participating in Mississippi Freedom Summer and the other two CORE members — were murdered and buried in shallow graves by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1964."<ref>[https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/reagan-speech-at-neshoba/ Aug. 3, 1980: Reagan Gives “State’s Rights” Speech at Neshoba County Fair]</ref> ("States' Rights" being an infamous dogwhistle used by supporters of racist policies.<ref>[https://www.gq.com/story/trump-administration-states-rights The Trump Administration's "States' Rights" Rhetoric Is an Insidious Dog Whistle For Something Far Worse]</ref>)

Reagan's racialization of crime did not come out of nowhere. It was inspired by Nixon's racialization of crime in 1968,<ref>''On Freedom'' by Timothy Snyder (2024) Crown. ISBN 9780593728727.</ref>{{rp|138}}<ref>''From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America'' by Elizabeth Hinton (2016) Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674737235.</ref> and the [[Southern Strategy]] that became necessary for Republicans to win national elections after [[Civil Rights Act]] of 1964.
As President, "Reagan began a sustained attack on the government’s civil rights apparatus, opened an assault on affirmative action and social welfare programs, embraced the white racist leaders of then-apartheid South Africa and waged war on a tiny, black Caribbean nation."<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5158315 Reagan: A contrary view]</ref> His policies also lead to an increasing of the racial wealth gap in the United States to levels never seen previously.<ref>[https://time.com/6334291/racial-wealth-gap-reagan-history/ Ronald Reagan’s Policies Continue to Exacerbate the Racial Wealth Gap]</ref> He also signed mandatory minimums into law, specifically of note is the 100:1 crack-to-cocaine disparity, which many note as being "racially discriminatory" given the significantly harsher punishment for crack, "which was disproportionately consumed by African Americans."<ref>[https://civilrights.org/blog/its-time-to-end-the-racist-and-unjustified-sentencing-disparity-between-crack-and-powder-cocaine/ It’s Time to End the Racist and Unjustified Sentencing Disparity Between Crack and Powder Cocaine]</ref>

Other highlights include his decision to sign off on a plan which would grant tax-exempt status to segregated universities, which he defended by saying he has always been "unalterably opposed to racial discrimination in any forms."<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|38}} Of course, this is not true given his criticism of Civil Rights legislation causing him to say "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so."<ref>[https://progressive.org/op-eds/nostalgia-reagan-distorts-policies-blacks/ Nostalgia for Reagan distorts his policies against blacks]</ref> The following year, Reagan blamed the decline in quality of public education on schools attempt to comply with desegregation as demanded by courts.<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|68}}

Reagan failed to endear himself to the black community in 1983, when Thomas Ellis, an important figure in the rise of [[Jesse Helms]],<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/03/31/cbs-fight-a-litmus-test-for-conservatives/121af96b-41a3-4aae-9ed7-be9f4360ce33/ CBS Fight a Litmus Test for Conservatives]</ref> was nominated to an international broadcasting board<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/07/27/reagan-nominee-details-segregationist-activities/612b52aa-7b26-4a4d-aad6-b3bed9226e44/ Reagan Nominee Details Segregationist Activities]</ref> despite the fact that "he belongs to an all-white country club, was a recent guest of the government of South Africa (where he has extensive holdings) and served as director of a group that financed research on he genetic inferiority of blacks."<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|70}}

==Quotes from (and about) the Great Communicator==
*"Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did, to see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!" — racist phone conversation with [[Richard Nixon]].
*"[[Reality|Facts]] are stupid things." A mangling of [[John Adams]]' famous comment, "Facts are stubborn things."
*"All great change in America begins at the dinner table."
*"You can tell a lot about a fella's character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful." — explaining why he liked to have a jar of jelly beans on hand for important meetings.
*"''The Sound of Music'' was on last night." — on why he went unprepared for the 1983 Williamsburg Economic Summit.
*"Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face." — [[Why can't I own a Canadian?|on]] [[Slavery in the Bible|his]] [[Song of Solomon|Bible]] [[Examples of God personally killing people|knowledge]].
*“It has been said that [[politics]] is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the [[Prostitution|first]].” — on why he didn't leave the profession.
*"America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." — on getting [[sucker]]ed.<ref>[http://www.americansongwriter.com/2014/04/behind-song-bruce-springsteen-born-u-s-a/ The best-placed irony.]</ref>
*"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."<ref>His statement was later dubbed onto a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k4TNtUZnM4 rap record by Jerry Harrison and Bootsy Collins.]</ref>
*"Don't be afraid to see [[LSD|what you see]]."
*"What would this country be without this great land of ours?"
*"Well, I learned a lot . . . I went down [to Latin America] to find out from them and [learn] their views. You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries."<ref>Reagan's Reign of Error by Mark Green and Gail MacColl, page 31</ref>
*"One last thought - shouldn't someone tag Mr. Kennedy's bold new imaginative program with its proper age? Under the tousled boyish haircut is still old Karl Marx - first launched a century ago. There is nothing new in the idea of a Government being Big Brother to us all. Hitler called his 'State Socialism' and way before him it was 'benevolent monarchy.'"—Reagan, on the communist fascism of John F. Kennedy.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/27/us/on-the-record-text-of-1960-reagan-letter.html On the Record ; Text of 1960 Reagan Letter]</ref>
*"Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal. It was Mussolini's success in Italy, with his government-directed economy, that led the early New Dealers to say 'But Mussolini keeps the trains running on time.'"—Reagan on the fascism of FDR<ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/111803-fascism-was-really-the-basis-for-the-new-deal-it “Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal. It was Mussolini's success in Italy, with his government-directed economy, that led the early New Dealers to say "But Mussolini keeps the trains running on time.”]</ref>
*“A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not.”<ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/120515-a-few-months-ago-i-told-the-american-people-i “A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not.”]</ref>
*"Just remember, for every person who is out of work, there are nine of us with jobs."<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|60}}
*"You know, if I listened to him long enough, I would be convinced that we're in an economic downturn, and that people are homeless, and people are going without food and medical attention, and that we've got to do something about unemployment." - Reagan on Michael Dukakis<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|242}}
*"You expect to see Jim Henson behind a curtain going, 'You moved him too far! Move his arms!'" — Robin Williams on Reagan's character tics.
*"He told me ''à propos'' [[John Maynard Keynes|Keynes]] that it [[Pink baiting|must not be forgotten]] that he was a [[homosexual]]." — The [[British]] Ambassador to the US, explaining how Ronnie made his economic decisions.<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/05/reagan-and-keynes-the-love-that-dare-not-speak-its-name.html Reagan and Keynes: The Love that Dare Not Speak its Name], ''The New Yorker''</ref>
*"What do I "think" of President Reagan? The best answer to give would be: I ''don't'' think of him. And the more I see, the less I think." — [[Ayn Rand]]
*"I only saw him once up close, which happened to be when he got a question he didn't like. Was it true that his staff in the 1980 debates had stolen President Carter's briefing book? (They had.) The famously genial grin turned into a rictus of senile fury: I was looking at a cruel and stupid lizard." — [[Christopher Hitchens]]<ref>Hitchens, [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2004/06/not_even_a_hedgehog.html "The Stupidity of Ronald Reagan"], 7.7.04.</ref>
*"You don't bury someone for five days...I thought that maybe they were burying him with spoons." — Lewis Black on Reagan's funeral procession.
*"President Reagan is a man with a very special sense of religion. Reagan sees a proper role for government and a proper role for God. It's very simple: Reagan's government helps the rich, and God helps the rest of us." - Cesar Chavez<ref>An Organizer's Tale: Speeches by Cesar Chavez</ref>
*"When you talk to Reagan, you sometimes wonder why it occurred to anyone that he should be president, or even governor. But what you historians have to explained is how so unintellectual a man could have dominated California for eight years, and Washington already for nearly seven." - Henry Kissinger<ref name=Paul/>
*"He knows less about the budget than any president in my lifetime. He can't even carry on a conversation about the budget. It's an absolute and utter disgrace." - House Speaker Tip O'Neill<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20181008101432/http://www.quickchange.com/reagan/1981.html</ref>
*"He only works three to three and a half hours a day. He doesn't do his homework. He doesn't read his briefing papers. It's sinful that this man is President of the United States." - House Speaker Tip O'Neill <ref name=Paul/>{{rp|74}}
*"Emerging from a particularly credulous Southern California culture, Nancy and Ronald Reagan relied on an astrologer in private and public matters — unknown to the voting public. Some portion of the decision-making that influences the future of our civilization is plainly in the hands of charlatans." - Carl Sagan<ref>The Demon-Haunted World</ref>
*"Reagan doesn't understand numbers. Every time the figures point to trouble, Reagan rebuts them with a personal anecdote." - White House Aide<ref>Reagan's Reign of Error by Mark Green and Gail MacColl, page 17</ref>
*"Ronald Reagan is the first modern President whose contempt for the facts is treated as a charming idiosyncrasy.” — James David Barber<ref>[https://quotefancy.com/quote/1786664/James-David-Barber-Ronald-Reagan-is-the-first-modern-President-whose-contempt-for-the “Ronald Reagan is the first modern President whose contempt for the facts is treated as a charming idiosyncrasy.”]</ref>
*"He has the ability to make statements that are so far outside the parameters of logic that they leave you speechless." — Patti Davis (formerly Patricia Ann Reagan) talking about her father<ref name=third>[https://thirdworldtraveler.com/Ronald_Reagan/Ronald_Reagan_Myth.html The Ronald Reagan Myth]</ref>
*"His errors glide past unchallenged. At one point...he alleged that almost half the population gets a free meal from the government each day. No one told him he was crazy. The general message of the American press is that, yes, while it is perfectly true that the emperor has no clothes, nudity is actually very acceptable this year." — Simon Hoggart<ref name=third/>
*"There are times when you really need him to do some work, and all he wants to do is tell stories about his movie days." — Unnamed White House aide<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|29}}
* "I absolutely believe President Reagan when he says he does not want to establish a state religion--that would require him to attend service." - Daniel Moynihan<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|107}}
* "An Explosion of such incredible ignorance that . . . he is not fit for public office of any kind." - Howard Fast on Reagan's comparison of the Contras to the Founding Fathers of the United States.<ref name=Paul/>{{rp|126}}
*"The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I. Never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain." - Peggy Noonan<ref name=nasty>''The nastiest things ever said about Republicans'' by Martin Higgins</ref>{{rp|22}}
*"You've got to be careful quoting Reagan because why you do it accurately it's called mudslinging." - Walter Mondale<ref name=nasty/>{{rp|27}}

==See also==
{{collist|2|
*[[George H.W. Bush]], his VP who later became President right after; the only time post-term limits that a single party controlled the White House for three straight terms.
*[[Carnivora]] — a "nutriceutical" that the makers claim saved Reagan's life. Or something.
*[[Milton Friedman]], one of the founding fathers of Reagan's neoliberal ideology.
*[[Imperialism]] - his foreign policy was in service to American corporations beyond anything else.
*[[John F. Kennedy]], the Democratic Party equivalent. 
*[[Jeane Kirkpatrick]], his Ambassador to the United Nations, a hardline [[Neoconservatism|neoconservative]] who defended authoritarian regimes as long as they supported the United States.
*[[C. Everett Koop]]
*[[Nationalism]]
*[[Richard Nixon]], who paved the way for Reagan's rise.
*[[Grover Norquist]], a rabid hater of taxes and government who started the Reagan Legacy Project with a goal of memorializing Reagan in all 50 states.
*[[Barack Obama]], same charisma, same adulation from partisans, same fundamental misunderstandings of their political legacies.<ref group=note>Reagan is rightly remembered as a far-right extremist, but some of his policies were downright liberal compared to modern-day Republicans, like protecting Social Security (even correctly saying it has nothing to do with the deficit), signing an abortion bill into law (that he later denounced), passing gun control (only after black people armed themselves as a protest against police brutality), offering detente with the Soviet Union (even back then he was pilloried for talking to [[Gorbachev]]), and implementing amnesty for tens of millions of immigrants (which would get him expelled from the party if he did that today). Obama, remembered as a standard-bearer for liberalism, was downright conservative in many of his policies, personal beliefs, and general behavior as president and ex-president, and even admitted not only that he's more like a moderate Reagan Republican, but that ''Nixon'' was more liberal than him. </ref>
*[[Deceit|Plausible deniability]], the only way he managed to avoid so many scandals despite evidence directly implicating him multiple times.
*[[Reaganism]], which he perfected after Nixon pioneered it.
*''[[Red Dawn]]''
*[[Bernie Sanders]], whose policies read like a direct repudiation of Reaganism.
*[[Margaret Thatcher|The "Iron Lady"]], his British counterpart.
*[[Trees cause pollution]]
*[[Donald Trump]] - The "Party of Reagan" was always going to become the "Party of Trump." The GOP did not "lose their way," they reached their destination.<ref group=note>Their parallels are outstanding. A longstanding, larger-than life pop culture personality with deep-seated racism who got his start as a bleeding-heart liberal, he took a hard right turn in his old age, ran on making America "great again," upended the landscape of what is thought to be "acceptable" in politics, implemented extreme far-right policies rooted in punishing people he deemed unworthy or subhuman, presided over untold human misery and many deaths due to his deliberate ignoring of a pandemic, supported and engineered the toppling of a leftist government in Latin America and its replacement by neofascists who massacred leftists and indigenous people, and paved the way for the Republican Party to become the far-right party they are today.</ref>
*[[Wingnut]], many of which he empowered or influenced.
}}

==External links==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoCQO90-0zQ Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave to Lead GOP] - All hail!
*[http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/xiffhs/indecision-2012---indecision-edition---reagan-os-911 He also comes in supercomputer format.]
*[http://bit.ly/ZwwOEP The quotes that make nuclear historians shudder.]
*[http://mischiefsoffaction.blogspot.ca/2014/04/why-are-conservatives-obsessed-with.html How the Bible of Reagan shapes Republican politics]
*{{wpa|October Surprise conspiracy theory}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2|80%}}

==References==
{{reflist|3|80%}}

{{POTUS}}

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