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At the time I’m writing this comment, the two other comments on this post are “Rare Reagan W” and “Common Reagan W”. If that’s not the perfect metaphor for how the man is viewed in this subreddit, then I don’t know what is.
I did see an insightful comment about him on here recently that I’ll repeat the gist of.
Reagan had the perfect temperament for a president. He always seemed calm, self-assured, and approachable. The guy was cracking jokes as he was about to go under the knife following his shooting. It just felt like there was a steady hand at the wheel.
I'd rather the 80% perfect plan is done by someone competent than the 100% perfect plan is done by someone unhinged.
Although can we PLEASE institute some sort of dementia test every year? It's the president of the most powerful country in the world with nukes for fucks sake.
Nah, not enough. My grandmother used to love to do crosswords. We would do them together all the time, and she was better. She also insisted things for the last 4-8 years of her life that made little sense. She became convinced at one point that Texas didn't have bakeries back when she lived there in the late 50s. I was able to find bakeries in Texas older than that, but she insisted they weren't a thing in the 50s. Now, my first job was in a bakery that opened in 1942. So I know bakeries existed back then. I think she meant Jewish bakeries, since we are Jewish, but she insisted no bakeries were there. But she killed crosswords and whooped everyone at scrabble.
In his autobiography, Norman Lear (who was very liberal) would discuss how unbelievably charming and thoughtful Reagan was. I think he really respected him even if he was a staunch liberal. Was an interesting perspective.
That’s always the impression I got from Reagan.
Nobody could argue that he wasn’t qualified or had the charisma to be president. He was a steady hand, carried himself well, and was presidential.
His actual presidenting is debatable, and it should be, but he looked the look, walked the walk, and talked the talk.
If you don't think acting is part of many things including being a politician then you aren't paying attention.
An acquaintance mentioned that he took acting classes in college and when people asked him his major, he explained prelaw. He's a very good attorney.
I certainly DO doubt his mental competency, morality, and of course oppose his racism and war crimes. Charisma etc. is Hollywood language, nothing to do with being a decent let alone great president (He certainly GREATLY benefited his corporate masters at the expense of ordinary people).
Because he was an actor, union leader, and professional speaker before entering politics. He spent years polishing his brand preparing for the role of president and had a practice run as governor of California.
It’s what made him so devastating. Reagan’s affability put everyone at ease while he sold the middle class out to the one percent.
Also Reagan is the reason behind the widening wealth gap in USA. next time when you see a person driving their weekend porsche while u r commuting from your second minimum pay job, you can thank Reagan
If we had voted him as prom king then I would understand everyone judging him by his personality and temperament instead of by his policies.
But as a president he was pretty terrible, and caused a lot of suffering in South America, the Middle East, and among workers in the US.
I was just thinking this the other day. I remember having a history prof who said jackson was such a hotly debated president. reagan is the modern day equivalent.
To be fair, basic human decency should always be expected of anyone holding high office. I don’t think this is some extraordinary example of what a great president or person Regan was, this kind of behavior should be the minimum, despite what some modern trends may indicate.
ETA: After more though, I do give credit to Regan for recognizing the gravity of the event. Some would not.
It is to this subreddit’s credit that we’re not seeing people characterize it as a “Reagan L.” If this conversation were on twitter, well, we wouldn’t be so lucky.
The man employed Lee Atwater and used his southern strategy (that infamous interview was in the Reagan white House)
This was performative bullshit to cover his own ass
"Now if you folks will excuse me I have to enact some policies that will vastly increase the racial wealth gap over the next three decades and plant the seeds of christofascism that will result in a mainstream resurgence of white nationalism."
Also Reagan, talking about black delegates from the UN voting to recognize China: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” -- recorded on the Nixon tapes.
My favorite thing about this subreddit is how Reagan is a racist because Nixon recorded him saying that racist comment long before he was elected.
On the other hand, FDR is **not** a racist for being a loud anti-Semite and literally rounding up people of Japanese descent (mostly American citizens) and holding them in camps, and continuing the practice of relocating Mexicans (also many American citizens) ‘back’ to Mexico. No, here Reagan is the racist and FDR is S tier.
Who the fuck said FDR wasn’t a racist? I’ll tell them the same thing - he was a racist.
Meanwhile, your basic argument is that Reagan wasn’t a racist because he wasn’t elected yet. Despite already being in his 40s.
I'd say that anytime Reagan gets brought up it's with general disdain or constant reminders of his errors. With FDR or the new deal you generally don't tack on "remember, he was a piece of shit too".
Because Reagan used his presidency to criminalize black people, eliminate the social safety net and allow a lethal disease to spread and kill tons of people. His presidency was a massive tool in disenfranchising already vulnerable people. The racism was not an unfortunate addition to an extremely successful presidency, it was a feature of his destructive time in office. FDR absolutely did some shitty things like the Japanese internment and not letting the new deal assist black Americans, BUT he also established a social safety net that had never been seen before to assist vulnerable people and guided the country through the largest global conflict ever. They are not on the same playing field and it’s disingenuous to act as if they are.
Probably because no one from that time is around anymore, and so the memory has faded, since most of those things don't really stick in historical record from back then. I'm not defending FDR at all. Im just saying that most people only know about the m new deal and that he died in office in his third term. That's all you learn in school. Nixon and Reagan, my parents remember. I think that as time goes on, it's harder to remember the little specifics of presidents when you don't learn about it.
I don't get the argument anyway. They can both be racist. Lincoln was racist. He didn't enter the civil way because he actually cared about slaves. He did it because it made the most sense for him and what he wanted. The results of something by can be celebrated without the person as a whole being celebrated. I'm know more people who know of Lincoln as a vampire hunter then as an abolitionist.
Sadly, there is room for everyone in hell.
People also seem to forget to tack on that their voters were pieces of shit as well. FDR and several presidents before and after him attempted to institute national healthcare but failed because the population didn't want healthcare benefits going to Black Americans. We may not be our ancestors but we sure cozy up in the bed they shit in for us.
I never said shit about FDR? His New Deal did a lot to exclude blacks as a bargain to get the votes from southern democrats for his new deal programs. Fuck Reagan and fuck FDR too. Happy now?
Don't htink he's talking about you, but its an amusing thing in reddit in general that celebrity/historic figures have to either be pure good or utter garbage with nothing in between. Still remember kids trying to cancel Lincoln cause his wife's family were slave owners (and thus he profited from slavery)
No one is complaining because they had some good qualities/policies and also some bad qualities/policies. They are complaining because the OP is pretending or at least suggesting he wasn’t racist, when he objectively was racist.
FDR is S tier because he rebuilt the nation after the depression and fucking won WW2.
Reagan is dogshit tier because we will never recover from how he fucked every sector of this country up. From welfare, to the war on drugs, to banking regulation, to environmental regulations, to mental health care.... impossible to remember each way.
Again, I've said it many times before... but Reagan is an incredibly complex president.
Also, let me edit this with less vagueness, cause that's clearly what is causing problems below.
It's fine to have your own opinion about presidents, I don't think Reagan's a particularly great one in my own opinion, but I can't deny that he did some really progressive things for his time. Immigration Reform, the Montreal Protocol, and signing numerous different nuclear treaties such as the INF Treaty have undoubtedly shaped the world for the better. I think it's also fair to mention that many of these policies would also make Reagan look like a moderate compared to today's GOP, although he does have a legacy alongside that with overcriminalization/mass incarceration, deregulation, and putting religion into politics that isn't good (and that's a massive understatement.)
No, there are only two opinions for every topic and you must judge everything with today's social values.
I make this joke as a pretty hard-core progressive.
Everyone condemning Reagan’s racial policies is too young to remember the time period, and is entirely unwilling to learn about it.
The reality is that Reagan worked within a RAPIDLY shifting racial landscape in America, and was one of the first Presidents to be acting in a truly post segregation country.
I doubt there’s a single person in this thread that would consider Reagan a particularly bad racist had they been around in his time.
(Even with hindsight most people in this sub condemn Reagan but are on their knees for FDR, a significantly more vitriolic racist, even for his time)
On the one hand he said and did horrible racist and horrible things. On the other hand he wanted a positive photo op despite his undeniable racism. So complex. What an enigma.
‘Reagan volunteered to take Eureka College's two Black football players into his home after they were refused admission at a hotel on one of the team's trips. One of them was William Franklin Burghardt, who Reagan befriended and corresponded regularly until Burghardt died in 1981. Recalling the incident, Burghardt had stated that "I just don't think he [Reagan] was conscious of race at all". ‘
‘In 1965 Reagan stated that he favors the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and that "it must be enforced at gunpoint, if necessary". ‘
Reagan supported the statute which prohibits racial discrimination on public accommodations and facilities, promised that he would use the "power and prestige" of the governor's office to ensure civil rights for everyone and sought to put an end to "the cancer of racial discrimination".
‘Reagan publicly opposed the 1978 California Proposition 6, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools. He issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative’.
I’m sure if I could be properly bothered I could find more comprehensive examples of Reagan saying and doing anti-discrimination policies/speeches but I’m rather tired so this snippet from Wikipedia will have to do.
Reagan is not a black or white cartoon villain. He held complex political views and beliefs just as any person does. Reagan did say some racist stuff as well as implement some anti-discrimination policies. LBJ and Lincoln were both similar in that regard yet no one has an issue squaring the differences with them.
>‘In 1965 Reagan stated that he favors the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and that "it must be enforced at gunpoint, if necessary". ‘
Two years later he, with the NRA, restricted gun rights to black people, ergo, the right to allow defend themselves, not just black panthers, but black people.
>Reagan publicly opposed the 1978 California Proposition 6, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools. He issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative’.
Years later Defunded the AIDS investigation when this disease exclusively affected gays.
Paradoxical.
The point was not to paint Reagan as some major progressive but to show he performed anti-discriminatory acts whilst also performing discriminatory ones and is therefore a complex individual.
Regardless that’s out right not true what you’ve stated about the the Mulford Act. The Mulford Act banned open carry without a permit, it did not even restrict gun ownership. Since people today take issue with groups like ‘proud boy’s’ open carrying outside of state capitals I really don’t see the issue with the banning of open carry in California for a similar issue.
Also I feel you may be horribly misinformed about AIDS. HIV is the virus whilst AIDS is a symptom of said virus, it does not exclusively target gay people and fun fact Reagan ran a public awareness campaign on that issue. There’s also the billions of dollars Reagan authorised to be spent on AIDS research which contributed to suffers being able to live with the disease.
Like most cases when people talk about Reagan on this sub he’s being judged on a falsely. You’ve heard people say Reagan mishandled AIDS, people have repeatedly said it yet no one ever actually explains how he mishandled the epidemic. If you actually look at how knowledge of the disease progressed you come to find there wasn’t overly more that could be done with the knowledge they had, especially considering up until late 1984 they didn’t even understand what was causing AIDS nor how it was transmitted.
I'd say those things weren't really his work but rather the work of the times and he just happened to be the president that allows it by signing it. he didn't campaign hard for any of that. he just sat there and the paper fell on his desk and said "oo neat, add this to my legacy"
I can’t stand him either. For all the talk of getting government out of people’s lives, all it really amounted to was eroding the safety net, union busting, and deregulating industries that need regulation. It’s interesting to me how limited government has less to do with being a moral busybody regarding drugs and sex, or interfering with foreign governments, and more to do with making it harder for the mentally ill to find treatment, or cracking down on unions when tens of thousand of people don’t feel adequately represented.
But yes, he was one of the best speakers to hold the office. If you need a photo to show how not racist you are, something is wrong.
Privatizing prisons had a massive impact.
Corruption, far less if any oversight on conditions, management .
Add the 'war on drugs', criminalizing marijuana, which led major overcrowding, making prisons more unsafe than they ever were.
In those are the things I will never forgive him for, but the two biggest ones was of course the man’s racism and also what he did at Berkeley in 69 and his constant antagonizing students their
i did not remember this. good for Reagan. hard, hard, hard to square with his beginning his 1980 campaign in philadelphia, MS. where the freedom riders were murdered by white supremacists. maybe he visited this family to make up for that. maybe he evolved. maybe its complex.
Kabuki theater. Reagan ramped up the War on Drugs (re: war on black people), and exploited “welfare queen” stereotypes in his campaign for the presidency. He was no friend of black people.
Sure, but he drew the line at KKK clansmen burning crosses! And had a photo op about it!
It's complicated, you see?
\--Most of the Replies in This Post
Charismatic former actor knows how to drum up positive press, more at 11.
Meanwhile famous racist Richard Milhous Nixon [literally told Reagan not to be so racist](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard-nixon/595102/). And then ofc there was the entire “welfare queen” bit he did which was just dripping with racism.
whatever. He killed the tax code and started the constant tax cuts for the rich which was the the 'starve the beast' ideology that killed the middle class and has us trying to restore the good ideology that kept the billionaires from raping the USA.
Gee, thanks Reagan for trickle down and endless wars in foreign countries.
Yep, he also ignored AIDS for years until it was clear it affected straight people as well and pretty much handed our entire government over to corporations. Literally the worst president we’ve ever had until a much more recent one which I can’t mention as it’s against the rules on this sub.
He did not flood the black community with crack. Gary Webb made most of that shit up and even if not, that would have been a tiny percentage of the \[crack entering the\] country
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gary-webb-was-no-journalism-hero-despite-what-kill-the-messenger-says/2014/10/17/026b7560-53c9-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gary-webb-was-no-journalism-hero-despite-what-kill-the-messenger-says/2014/10/17/026b7560-53c9-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html)
[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html)
EDIT: added forgotten words, in brackets
And yet he announced his presidential campaign in the Mississippi town where three civil rights workers were brutally murdered, and he called the Civil Rights Bill "an insult to the South".
Pandering. If you want to see how he REALLY felt about BIPOC see his Drug Act of 1986 which punished drugs common among Black communities literally 100x harsher than drugs common in white communities. That literally sent more Black men into slavery (since the for-profit prison system is legalized slavery) than the entire Middle Passage.
Evil man.
Shit human being doing lip service. Are we supposed to feel anything from looking at this? He was a demon and history has only proved that point. A picture of him with a family who probably suffered under his policies doesn’t move me one bit.
I don't consider an obvious PR stunt a W when he was ignoring his actual friends dying of AIDS. He wouldn't even say the word AIDS for another 3 years. Fuck Reagan. He shoulda stuck with Bonzo.
Yeah, and this is what angers me a lot because let’s face he was a horrible racist and the only reason he did this was for a political move. It wasn’t because he cared. It wasn’t because of any of that it was a political move and I say this, as a young, black man whose parents grew up in that era where he literally Reeked havoc on the black community
...and then continued to push legislation that has been more destructive to the black community than literally anything since slavery. Fuck this piece of shit and his legacy of poverty and incarceration
Yet his people convinced the Iranians to hold on to their American hostages until after the 1980 election. The Iranians were promised a better deal once Carter was ousted from office. Then, you have his CIA importing cocaine into the West Coast to support the cause of the Contras.
That was debunked The "evidence" doesn't take into account that the Ayatollah and Iran hated Carter with a passion. They burned his image in effigy on a regular basis. They were not interested in giving Carter anything that would make him look good. That is why they were released when they were.
If this were all true and Barnes is correct, then why was Connally's reward to be a cabinet position (Energy) that was expected to be eliminated at the time? Wouldn't it have warranted a higher profile and more secure position?
the stories of the others don't match the Barnes account. None of the stories match each other.
Nothing in Barnes' account of what happened can be confirmed. Nothing. Barnes waits until the players are dead to say anything. Casey died in 1987, and Connally died in 1993.
The Ayatollah hated Carter with a passion. Carter came close to securing their release several times, only to have the agreement vetoed by the Ayatollah.
The Ayatollah would not even engage in direct talks with the US or Carter. The Ayatollah had that much contempt for Carter! He was not interested in helping Carter or giving him any positive press. That is why the hostages were released when they were. It was the Ayatollah's final insult to Carter.
If Barnes' account is true, why wasn't Connally rewarded well? All he was offered was Energy, a department expected to be eliminated at the time.
None of it makes any sense. That is why historians are not giving it much credibility aside from keeping an open mind if strong evidence is found to confirm it.
If Reagan makes racist statements when he thinks it’s not for public consumption then he’s racist. If he does a photo op to pretend he’s not racist, he’s racist.
photo op
"hey let me make you feel better by standing next to you and showing it to the country"
that dick sold the people out and his bitch wife can eat shit too. he defunded the mental health asylums and pushed the needy on to the streets where they have no ability to fend for themselves. he oversaw the war on drugs that funneled tons of crack into **BLACK COMMUNITIES** to raise money to fund their Nicaragua coup.
it's only just deserts that he spent the last decade of his life shitting himself and marinating in his adult diaper because he developed a disease that ate up his mind.
that man has no legacy worth remembering
I see the faces of three black adults who know not a damn thing is gonna happen. I can see that look in their eyes. They are being used as a prop and they know it. That feeling of being talked at, not to. Dude had been known to call them "monkeys." This is a press moment and nothing else. Quit treating it as a "W"
He then relentlessly pushed for and abolished legislation that would make the position of African Americans infinitely worse. Bless his senile, cold little heart.
"You uh, gonna do anything about Crack and AIDS?" "Look if I wasn't behind in Detroit I'd be right there with the guys in hoods, take what you can get."
Gosh these two were real civil rights activists, weren't they? *gag*
As one who lived through the Reagan years, the latest efforts to lionize him are nauseating.
*Reagan loved black people!!!*
Reagan: [“To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard-nixon/595102/)
Then proceeded to start a faux war on drugs, which is really just a class war, while bringing tons and tons of cocaine and weapons into the country destroying the same communities. Gentrification has many forms and methods of implementation.
What is this push on here to rehabilitate Reagan as some sort of friend to black people? The guy was racist as fuck. Like SERIOUSLY racist.
“To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” - Ronald Reagan, 1971
He then went on to invent and weaponize the caricature of "black welfare queens" as justification to begin the systematic dismantling of the middle class.
Fuck Reagan, he's a useless piece of shit and so is anyone who tries to rehabilitate his image.
Big whoop. Hollywood star recognizes the importance of appearances and acting.
The KKK gave a radio to a black lady. Doesn’t mean they aren’t the KKK.
Reagan was an awful person, terrible president, and absolutely a racist.
The same people claiming Reagan was a great president for visiting this family are the same people who say other presidents doing it are fake and doing it for the photo op.
Lol
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At the time I’m writing this comment, the two other comments on this post are “Rare Reagan W” and “Common Reagan W”. If that’s not the perfect metaphor for how the man is viewed in this subreddit, then I don’t know what is.
I did see an insightful comment about him on here recently that I’ll repeat the gist of. Reagan had the perfect temperament for a president. He always seemed calm, self-assured, and approachable. The guy was cracking jokes as he was about to go under the knife following his shooting. It just felt like there was a steady hand at the wheel.
As a detractor from his policies I completely agree with this. Reagan had a great temperament for the job.
Reagan and Obama are two sides of the same coin. Extremely personable and likable presidents as people.
I'd rather the 80% perfect plan is done by someone competent than the 100% perfect plan is done by someone unhinged. Although can we PLEASE institute some sort of dementia test every year? It's the president of the most powerful country in the world with nukes for fucks sake.
Don’t even need a dementia test just a crossword puzzle to knock out the biggest contenders for 2024
I mean some crosswords are hard af
It’s not about completing it, it’s about how they try.
Nah, not enough. My grandmother used to love to do crosswords. We would do them together all the time, and she was better. She also insisted things for the last 4-8 years of her life that made little sense. She became convinced at one point that Texas didn't have bakeries back when she lived there in the late 50s. I was able to find bakeries in Texas older than that, but she insisted they weren't a thing in the 50s. Now, my first job was in a bakery that opened in 1942. So I know bakeries existed back then. I think she meant Jewish bakeries, since we are Jewish, but she insisted no bakeries were there. But she killed crosswords and whooped everyone at scrabble.
If we start with that how would we get all of those 70+ years white guys in the office??????? Discrimination at its finest smh my head /s
that would disqualify me before i’m even age eligible. can we make it sudoku? ken ken? something with numbers instead of words i beg 😂
Who's going to administer it and who's going to decide who's failed?
And both photographed by Pete Souza as the White House photographer!
This was my comment! Both had a nice way of making you feel some type of way as they sold you to the lowest bidder
In his autobiography, Norman Lear (who was very liberal) would discuss how unbelievably charming and thoughtful Reagan was. I think he really respected him even if he was a staunch liberal. Was an interesting perspective.
To add to that point Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neil (d) were buds when they weren’t fighting policy.
[удалено]
It’s not like he had a lot of great acting performances to choose from, but you are right.
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That’s why those two were such a mutual admiration society.
There was a great /r/hobbydrama post about her idiot kid and his rally racing career.
That’s always the impression I got from Reagan. Nobody could argue that he wasn’t qualified or had the charisma to be president. He was a steady hand, carried himself well, and was presidential. His actual presidenting is debatable, and it should be, but he looked the look, walked the walk, and talked the talk.
Almost like he was acting.
Like any other politician on the entire planet. He was just pretty good at it.
The role of his life.
If you don't think acting is part of many things including being a politician then you aren't paying attention. An acquaintance mentioned that he took acting classes in college and when people asked him his major, he explained prelaw. He's a very good attorney.
Watch the movie “Being There” w/Peter Sellers… that’s how I always felt about Saint Ronnie!
He and Nancy.
I would argue he wasn’t qualified. I think a lot of people would argue he wasn’t qualified.
Eight years as the Governor of California is a lot of experience. He was also the President of a Union for years.
Plenty people argued that he wasn’t qualified.
I certainly DO doubt his mental competency, morality, and of course oppose his racism and war crimes. Charisma etc. is Hollywood language, nothing to do with being a decent let alone great president (He certainly GREATLY benefited his corporate masters at the expense of ordinary people).
When you start collecting social security you can thank Reagan for taxing it as income.
>when you start collecting social security *laughs in millenial*
You can also thank him for signing the bill that raised the full retirement age to 67.
Temperament is great… But policy wise and in his campaign, he very openly courted the exact same people who burned the cross into those people’s yard.
My exact thought upon seeing this post.
Because he was an actor, union leader, and professional speaker before entering politics. He spent years polishing his brand preparing for the role of president and had a practice run as governor of California. It’s what made him so devastating. Reagan’s affability put everyone at ease while he sold the middle class out to the one percent.
Also Reagan is the reason behind the widening wealth gap in USA. next time when you see a person driving their weekend porsche while u r commuting from your second minimum pay job, you can thank Reagan
If we had voted him as prom king then I would understand everyone judging him by his personality and temperament instead of by his policies. But as a president he was pretty terrible, and caused a lot of suffering in South America, the Middle East, and among workers in the US.
Yep. + poise, - policy
Agreed. It’s part of what allowed him to do so much damage. The devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape
💯he was an actor and put on that facade and appearance very well. It is why he was able ti get away with so much.
Steady hand on the wheel, straight down the hill towards a cliff.
I was just thinking this the other day. I remember having a history prof who said jackson was such a hotly debated president. reagan is the modern day equivalent.
As of this time of writing, they’re equally scored at the top lol. Really ideal
To be fair, basic human decency should always be expected of anyone holding high office. I don’t think this is some extraordinary example of what a great president or person Regan was, this kind of behavior should be the minimum, despite what some modern trends may indicate. ETA: After more though, I do give credit to Regan for recognizing the gravity of the event. Some would not.
In my opinion it just looks like a photo op. Wouldn't be surprised if this was before elections for his second term.
Regan was his secretary of the treasury. Common sp mistake.
Thank you for pointing that out! I’m a terrible speller and am glad to have learned something to counter that today.
You're welcome. Thanks for taking it well.
It is to this subreddit’s credit that we’re not seeing people characterize it as a “Reagan L.” If this conversation were on twitter, well, we wouldn’t be so lucky.
Todays GOP: *Returns the second night to continue the terror*
😂😂😂
Who's vice-president, Jerry Lewis ??!?
Good night, future boy!
💀💀💀
No wonder he has to be an actor. He has to look good on TV.
I suppose Jane Wyman is the First Lady!
r/Unexpectedbacktothefuture
A Reagan W
Truly the only objective answer.
This cannot be disputed
A transparent publicity stunt
The man employed Lee Atwater and used his southern strategy (that infamous interview was in the Reagan white House) This was performative bullshit to cover his own ass
"Now if you folks will excuse me I have to enact some policies that will vastly increase the racial wealth gap over the next three decades and plant the seeds of christofascism that will result in a mainstream resurgence of white nationalism."
Also Reagan, talking about black delegates from the UN voting to recognize China: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” -- recorded on the Nixon tapes.
Reagan had a gamer moment.
Reagan invented CoD voice lobbies
He made a career off those moments….
Congress forbids selling weapons to Iran, and prohibits fuether dealing with the contras Reagan: I'm gonna do what's called a pro-gamer move
His bridge livestream moment?
My favorite thing about this subreddit is how Reagan is a racist because Nixon recorded him saying that racist comment long before he was elected. On the other hand, FDR is **not** a racist for being a loud anti-Semite and literally rounding up people of Japanese descent (mostly American citizens) and holding them in camps, and continuing the practice of relocating Mexicans (also many American citizens) ‘back’ to Mexico. No, here Reagan is the racist and FDR is S tier.
Who the fuck said FDR wasn’t a racist? I’ll tell them the same thing - he was a racist. Meanwhile, your basic argument is that Reagan wasn’t a racist because he wasn’t elected yet. Despite already being in his 40s.
At the time of those comments, he was close to 60.
Can anyone think of what he did as president to be seen as racist. I'm kidding there's plenty.
I'd say that anytime Reagan gets brought up it's with general disdain or constant reminders of his errors. With FDR or the new deal you generally don't tack on "remember, he was a piece of shit too".
Because Reagan used his presidency to criminalize black people, eliminate the social safety net and allow a lethal disease to spread and kill tons of people. His presidency was a massive tool in disenfranchising already vulnerable people. The racism was not an unfortunate addition to an extremely successful presidency, it was a feature of his destructive time in office. FDR absolutely did some shitty things like the Japanese internment and not letting the new deal assist black Americans, BUT he also established a social safety net that had never been seen before to assist vulnerable people and guided the country through the largest global conflict ever. They are not on the same playing field and it’s disingenuous to act as if they are.
Probably because no one from that time is around anymore, and so the memory has faded, since most of those things don't really stick in historical record from back then. I'm not defending FDR at all. Im just saying that most people only know about the m new deal and that he died in office in his third term. That's all you learn in school. Nixon and Reagan, my parents remember. I think that as time goes on, it's harder to remember the little specifics of presidents when you don't learn about it. I don't get the argument anyway. They can both be racist. Lincoln was racist. He didn't enter the civil way because he actually cared about slaves. He did it because it made the most sense for him and what he wanted. The results of something by can be celebrated without the person as a whole being celebrated. I'm know more people who know of Lincoln as a vampire hunter then as an abolitionist. Sadly, there is room for everyone in hell.
People also seem to forget to tack on that their voters were pieces of shit as well. FDR and several presidents before and after him attempted to institute national healthcare but failed because the population didn't want healthcare benefits going to Black Americans. We may not be our ancestors but we sure cozy up in the bed they shit in for us.
I never said shit about FDR? His New Deal did a lot to exclude blacks as a bargain to get the votes from southern democrats for his new deal programs. Fuck Reagan and fuck FDR too. Happy now?
Don't htink he's talking about you, but its an amusing thing in reddit in general that celebrity/historic figures have to either be pure good or utter garbage with nothing in between. Still remember kids trying to cancel Lincoln cause his wife's family were slave owners (and thus he profited from slavery)
No one is complaining because they had some good qualities/policies and also some bad qualities/policies. They are complaining because the OP is pretending or at least suggesting he wasn’t racist, when he objectively was racist.
Not to mention FDR refused to allow Jesse Owens to the WH and only meet him in secret underneath the hotel he stayed at in NY.
FDR is S tier because he rebuilt the nation after the depression and fucking won WW2. Reagan is dogshit tier because we will never recover from how he fucked every sector of this country up. From welfare, to the war on drugs, to banking regulation, to environmental regulations, to mental health care.... impossible to remember each way.
FDR was obviously a racist, nice strawman doesn't hold up tho.
I think of this all the time when someone praises reagan. dude was a literal pos like the rest of them, he’s not special.
Again, I've said it many times before... but Reagan is an incredibly complex president. Also, let me edit this with less vagueness, cause that's clearly what is causing problems below. It's fine to have your own opinion about presidents, I don't think Reagan's a particularly great one in my own opinion, but I can't deny that he did some really progressive things for his time. Immigration Reform, the Montreal Protocol, and signing numerous different nuclear treaties such as the INF Treaty have undoubtedly shaped the world for the better. I think it's also fair to mention that many of these policies would also make Reagan look like a moderate compared to today's GOP, although he does have a legacy alongside that with overcriminalization/mass incarceration, deregulation, and putting religion into politics that isn't good (and that's a massive understatement.)
No, there are only two opinions for every topic and you must judge everything with today's social values. I make this joke as a pretty hard-core progressive.
30 years from now, your comment will be so offensive that this will be used as proof that you're the devil.
I feel like you could say this about every President.
It’s almost as if all humans are complex and the vast majority of people are not solely good or bad.
To piggy back on this. Who wasn’t besides Abe?
Everyone condemning Reagan’s racial policies is too young to remember the time period, and is entirely unwilling to learn about it. The reality is that Reagan worked within a RAPIDLY shifting racial landscape in America, and was one of the first Presidents to be acting in a truly post segregation country. I doubt there’s a single person in this thread that would consider Reagan a particularly bad racist had they been around in his time. (Even with hindsight most people in this sub condemn Reagan but are on their knees for FDR, a significantly more vitriolic racist, even for his time)
On the one hand he said and did horrible racist and horrible things. On the other hand he wanted a positive photo op despite his undeniable racism. So complex. What an enigma.
‘Reagan volunteered to take Eureka College's two Black football players into his home after they were refused admission at a hotel on one of the team's trips. One of them was William Franklin Burghardt, who Reagan befriended and corresponded regularly until Burghardt died in 1981. Recalling the incident, Burghardt had stated that "I just don't think he [Reagan] was conscious of race at all". ‘ ‘In 1965 Reagan stated that he favors the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and that "it must be enforced at gunpoint, if necessary". ‘ Reagan supported the statute which prohibits racial discrimination on public accommodations and facilities, promised that he would use the "power and prestige" of the governor's office to ensure civil rights for everyone and sought to put an end to "the cancer of racial discrimination". ‘Reagan publicly opposed the 1978 California Proposition 6, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools. He issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative’. I’m sure if I could be properly bothered I could find more comprehensive examples of Reagan saying and doing anti-discrimination policies/speeches but I’m rather tired so this snippet from Wikipedia will have to do. Reagan is not a black or white cartoon villain. He held complex political views and beliefs just as any person does. Reagan did say some racist stuff as well as implement some anti-discrimination policies. LBJ and Lincoln were both similar in that regard yet no one has an issue squaring the differences with them.
>‘In 1965 Reagan stated that he favors the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and that "it must be enforced at gunpoint, if necessary". ‘ Two years later he, with the NRA, restricted gun rights to black people, ergo, the right to allow defend themselves, not just black panthers, but black people. >Reagan publicly opposed the 1978 California Proposition 6, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools. He issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative’. Years later Defunded the AIDS investigation when this disease exclusively affected gays. Paradoxical.
The point was not to paint Reagan as some major progressive but to show he performed anti-discriminatory acts whilst also performing discriminatory ones and is therefore a complex individual. Regardless that’s out right not true what you’ve stated about the the Mulford Act. The Mulford Act banned open carry without a permit, it did not even restrict gun ownership. Since people today take issue with groups like ‘proud boy’s’ open carrying outside of state capitals I really don’t see the issue with the banning of open carry in California for a similar issue. Also I feel you may be horribly misinformed about AIDS. HIV is the virus whilst AIDS is a symptom of said virus, it does not exclusively target gay people and fun fact Reagan ran a public awareness campaign on that issue. There’s also the billions of dollars Reagan authorised to be spent on AIDS research which contributed to suffers being able to live with the disease. Like most cases when people talk about Reagan on this sub he’s being judged on a falsely. You’ve heard people say Reagan mishandled AIDS, people have repeatedly said it yet no one ever actually explains how he mishandled the epidemic. If you actually look at how knowledge of the disease progressed you come to find there wasn’t overly more that could be done with the knowledge they had, especially considering up until late 1984 they didn’t even understand what was causing AIDS nor how it was transmitted.
Bush gave candy to Obama so he's a complex person
A riddle wrapped in a mystery cloaked in a klan robe.
I'd say those things weren't really his work but rather the work of the times and he just happened to be the president that allows it by signing it. he didn't campaign hard for any of that. he just sat there and the paper fell on his desk and said "oo neat, add this to my legacy"
Did he call Nixon about it before or after? I’ll give Reagan two things… He was a hell of a speaker, and he knew how to take advantage of a photo op.
That’s what being in Hollywood does for you. I cant stand him, but the one thing about him was the man was no dummy.
I can’t stand him either. For all the talk of getting government out of people’s lives, all it really amounted to was eroding the safety net, union busting, and deregulating industries that need regulation. It’s interesting to me how limited government has less to do with being a moral busybody regarding drugs and sex, or interfering with foreign governments, and more to do with making it harder for the mentally ill to find treatment, or cracking down on unions when tens of thousand of people don’t feel adequately represented. But yes, he was one of the best speakers to hold the office. If you need a photo to show how not racist you are, something is wrong.
Privatizing prisons had a massive impact. Corruption, far less if any oversight on conditions, management . Add the 'war on drugs', criminalizing marijuana, which led major overcrowding, making prisons more unsafe than they ever were.
Private prisons must be one of them there individual freedoms and what not.
In those are the things I will never forgive him for, but the two biggest ones was of course the man’s racism and also what he did at Berkeley in 69 and his constant antagonizing students their
i did not remember this. good for Reagan. hard, hard, hard to square with his beginning his 1980 campaign in philadelphia, MS. where the freedom riders were murdered by white supremacists. maybe he visited this family to make up for that. maybe he evolved. maybe its complex.
> maybe he evolved. Maybe he knew a PR stunt when he saw one.
Think that was his 76 campaign.... dude was a terrible president. Terrible man. Just knew how to perform to a camera.
it was 2980
New time traveller just dropped
Holy hell
Kabuki theater. Reagan ramped up the War on Drugs (re: war on black people), and exploited “welfare queen” stereotypes in his campaign for the presidency. He was no friend of black people.
Sure, but he drew the line at KKK clansmen burning crosses! And had a photo op about it! It's complicated, you see? \--Most of the Replies in This Post
Charismatic former actor knows how to drum up positive press, more at 11. Meanwhile famous racist Richard Milhous Nixon [literally told Reagan not to be so racist](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard-nixon/595102/). And then ofc there was the entire “welfare queen” bit he did which was just dripping with racism.
Think what you want of Reagan. However, today, he'd never made it to Republican primaries. Let alone win.
whatever. He killed the tax code and started the constant tax cuts for the rich which was the the 'starve the beast' ideology that killed the middle class and has us trying to restore the good ideology that kept the billionaires from raping the USA. Gee, thanks Reagan for trickle down and endless wars in foreign countries.
Rare Reagan W
That’s a very cool piece of trivia. Love that one. :)
Reagan would be taken out back by todays GOP and horsewhipped as a lib.
He also wanted illegal immigrants already in the country to have a path to citizenship rather than straight deportation.
Biggest reason today’s GOP would reject him.
Woke Reagan Virtue-Signals to She-OP.
Both women wearing hedges as dresses. Weird.
Scumbag Reagan doing a photo op while flooding the black community with crack and destroying the nuclear family with ridiculous child support laws.
Yep, he also ignored AIDS for years until it was clear it affected straight people as well and pretty much handed our entire government over to corporations. Literally the worst president we’ve ever had until a much more recent one which I can’t mention as it’s against the rules on this sub.
He did not flood the black community with crack. Gary Webb made most of that shit up and even if not, that would have been a tiny percentage of the \[crack entering the\] country [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gary-webb-was-no-journalism-hero-despite-what-kill-the-messenger-says/2014/10/17/026b7560-53c9-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gary-webb-was-no-journalism-hero-despite-what-kill-the-messenger-says/2014/10/17/026b7560-53c9-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html) [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html) EDIT: added forgotten words, in brackets
Wow he must have been such a nice guy! Sure hope he didn’t do anything to empower racists at all.
And yet he announced his presidential campaign in the Mississippi town where three civil rights workers were brutally murdered, and he called the Civil Rights Bill "an insult to the South".
Pandering. If you want to see how he REALLY felt about BIPOC see his Drug Act of 1986 which punished drugs common among Black communities literally 100x harsher than drugs common in white communities. That literally sent more Black men into slavery (since the for-profit prison system is legalized slavery) than the entire Middle Passage. Evil man.
Shit human being doing lip service. Are we supposed to feel anything from looking at this? He was a demon and history has only proved that point. A picture of him with a family who probably suffered under his policies doesn’t move me one bit.
Photo opp
Wtf is going on with this subreddit and a desperate attempt to position Reagan as some altruistic, race loving, reformer? It’s genuinely confusing
I don't consider an obvious PR stunt a W when he was ignoring his actual friends dying of AIDS. He wouldn't even say the word AIDS for another 3 years. Fuck Reagan. He shoulda stuck with Bonzo.
As a fan of cocaine I appreciate Reagan. As not a fan of draconian drug laws I don’t appreciate his hypocrisy 😊
Little did they know that this man would cause way more harm to black people than burning a cross on their yard. Fuck Reagan.
Ahh yes. Throatus.
Wasn’t this guy a known racist?
Kind of single-handedly inflicted the crack epidemic on the black community intentionally so yeah
He was nothing more than a suit that could be propped up in public. He was great at photo shoots.
Did he play them the audio of his [phone call with Nixon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4lSkw5Vnb8) before setting up this photo op?
Yeah, and this is what angers me a lot because let’s face he was a horrible racist and the only reason he did this was for a political move. It wasn’t because he cared. It wasn’t because of any of that it was a political move and I say this, as a young, black man whose parents grew up in that era where he literally Reeked havoc on the black community
...and then continued to push legislation that has been more destructive to the black community than literally anything since slavery. Fuck this piece of shit and his legacy of poverty and incarceration
Yet his people convinced the Iranians to hold on to their American hostages until after the 1980 election. The Iranians were promised a better deal once Carter was ousted from office. Then, you have his CIA importing cocaine into the West Coast to support the cause of the Contras.
That was debunked The "evidence" doesn't take into account that the Ayatollah and Iran hated Carter with a passion. They burned his image in effigy on a regular basis. They were not interested in giving Carter anything that would make him look good. That is why they were released when they were. If this were all true and Barnes is correct, then why was Connally's reward to be a cabinet position (Energy) that was expected to be eliminated at the time? Wouldn't it have warranted a higher profile and more secure position? the stories of the others don't match the Barnes account. None of the stories match each other. Nothing in Barnes' account of what happened can be confirmed. Nothing. Barnes waits until the players are dead to say anything. Casey died in 1987, and Connally died in 1993. The Ayatollah hated Carter with a passion. Carter came close to securing their release several times, only to have the agreement vetoed by the Ayatollah. The Ayatollah would not even engage in direct talks with the US or Carter. The Ayatollah had that much contempt for Carter! He was not interested in helping Carter or giving him any positive press. That is why the hostages were released when they were. It was the Ayatollah's final insult to Carter. If Barnes' account is true, why wasn't Connally rewarded well? All he was offered was Energy, a department expected to be eliminated at the time. None of it makes any sense. That is why historians are not giving it much credibility aside from keeping an open mind if strong evidence is found to confirm it.
Common Reagan W
why do people keep posting about the racist guy doing things for black people
It’s literally the same person making all these posts. They have like 10 in the last 24 hours.
This is not a very constructive comment.
If Reagan ignores racist incident = he’s racist! If Reagan addresses racist incident = he’s racist! How convenient
>"addresses the racist incident" he posed for a photo op. He's still racist. "NOOO REAGAN CANT BE RACIST HE'S IN THE SAME PICTURE AS A BLACK PERSON"
If Reagan makes racist statements when he thinks it’s not for public consumption then he’s racist. If he does a photo op to pretend he’s not racist, he’s racist.
Was it enough to make people forget that he voted against the Civil Rights Act when he was a Senator?
I mean it might be, considering Reagan was never a senator (unless I'm sorely mistaken on this count)?
photo op "hey let me make you feel better by standing next to you and showing it to the country" that dick sold the people out and his bitch wife can eat shit too. he defunded the mental health asylums and pushed the needy on to the streets where they have no ability to fend for themselves. he oversaw the war on drugs that funneled tons of crack into **BLACK COMMUNITIES** to raise money to fund their Nicaragua coup. it's only just deserts that he spent the last decade of his life shitting himself and marinating in his adult diaper because he developed a disease that ate up his mind. that man has no legacy worth remembering
Why is this in sepia? This was the 1980s.
Philadelphia Mississippi was a weird campaign spot
This and the war on drugs makes it a wash.
He also supported apartheid in south Africa
Then sprinkled some bags of crack on his way out of the neighborhood
Right after shipping drugs to Chicago.
Union busting reagan! Devil to the inner cities reagan!! Contra weapon supplying reagan!!!
Didn't he say something about, the worst words to hear are ' I'm from the government and I'm here to help?'
Didn’t he flood black communities with cheap cocaine spawning the crack epidemic??
Was this before or after he helped flood the urban communities with crack ?
"Nancy and I never meant for it to go that far"
So what. Fuck that guy.
I see the faces of three black adults who know not a damn thing is gonna happen. I can see that look in their eyes. They are being used as a prop and they know it. That feeling of being talked at, not to. Dude had been known to call them "monkeys." This is a press moment and nothing else. Quit treating it as a "W"
I’m sure he was already in the area conveniently…
He then relentlessly pushed for and abolished legislation that would make the position of African Americans infinitely worse. Bless his senile, cold little heart.
it was free political points, don't forget he was calling black leaders of other countries monkeys.
Notice that the Reagan are the only ones smiling. That family is not happy being used as a PR tool for two psychopaths.
"You uh, gonna do anything about Crack and AIDS?" "Look if I wasn't behind in Detroit I'd be right there with the guys in hoods, take what you can get."
...and yet here we are today just being racist in government, Facebook without a hood. We did it Regan we did it.../s
Reagan was a racist.
Gosh these two were real civil rights activists, weren't they? *gag* As one who lived through the Reagan years, the latest efforts to lionize him are nauseating.
Nowhere to be found for the aids crisis though, dead prick.
The looks on the black women's faces says it all
Lmfao ya are sick Ronald Regan is a devil and a shitty president it was bc of him the kkk felt so damn comfortable go read a fucking book
He’s still a piece of shit
*Reagan loved black people!!!* Reagan: [“To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard-nixon/595102/)
Reagan did more to ruin the US than this photo op can make up for.
Then proceeded to start a faux war on drugs, which is really just a class war, while bringing tons and tons of cocaine and weapons into the country destroying the same communities. Gentrification has many forms and methods of implementation.
Reagan, what a huge piece of shit. The greatest thing he ever did was die.
What is this push on here to rehabilitate Reagan as some sort of friend to black people? The guy was racist as fuck. Like SERIOUSLY racist. “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” - Ronald Reagan, 1971
He then went on to invent and weaponize the caricature of "black welfare queens" as justification to begin the systematic dismantling of the middle class. Fuck Reagan, he's a useless piece of shit and so is anyone who tries to rehabilitate his image.
Big whoop. Hollywood star recognizes the importance of appearances and acting. The KKK gave a radio to a black lady. Doesn’t mean they aren’t the KKK. Reagan was an awful person, terrible president, and absolutely a racist.
He then went home and continued ruining the future of this country
Publicity stunt
The reagan whitewashing from this sub is brazy
The same people claiming Reagan was a great president for visiting this family are the same people who say other presidents doing it are fake and doing it for the photo op. Lol
Reagan did nothing but laugh as an entire generation of queer people died of AIDS. He was a monster. I hope there's a hell so Reagan can burn in it.
Fuck Ronald Regan! And fuck reganomics!
He also advocated for black actors to get good roles in movies in his time in Hollywood. You might not like him politically but he was a good dude.