Prior to 2020 and 2024, the oldest man to be elected President of the United States was Ronald Reagan. Reagan was called The Great Communicator, and he is considered to be the father of the “New Conservatism.”
Reagan was a registered Democrat until age 51, then Ronny got Red-Pilled.
Part of what made Reagan a good communicator was his humor. What identified him as a Conservative are his many views that would today make him look like someone “infected with the woke mind virus.”
In today’s GOP, Reagan could not win a primary. He would be considered “leftist.”
There is a long list of Reagan’s legacy that represent how utterly awful he was in many of his decisions. He and Margaret Thatcher ushered in the era of massive deficit spending through Neoliberalism and “Supply-side Economics” and slashing taxes on the wealthy. In turn, he blew up the military budgets to insane levels, which primarily served to make many of his California friends super rich. He screwed the pooch on the AIDS crisis saying it could be ‘cured’ by abstinence. Iran Contra, Lebanon…the list is LONG.
Reagan was terrible for the environment, was against raising the minimum wage, hated welfare and social safety nets and thought Social Security should be ‘voluntary.’
But Reagan was something that today’s GOP isn’t, he was a decent man. He was formal, polite and well-mannered. He did not use vitriolic language, and he did not demean or dehumanize people. He did not call people childish names. He welcomed all faiths as part of the American fabric. He spoke highly of immigrants and their contributions to American society. He had DOGS! Lucky and Rex.
In 2024, Ronald Reagan would be dead last in a GOP primary. Indeed, given how warped the GOP has become in the past few decades, it can be argued that the Reagan Revolution was really the end of anything that represents true Conservatism. One thing is certain, MAGA is NOT Conservative, T***p is NOT Conservative and Christian Nationalism is NOT Conservative…not even with a small C.
Perhaps there is no GOP character that most represents the Party’s complete and total capitulation and shunning of Conservative “values and morals” than Lindsey Graham. The people who dare to hold true to the old GOP are now referred to as RINOs (Republican in Name Only).
“With each passing year, conservatives looked less and less like Reagan, even as they invoked his name more and more.” -- Nicole Hemmer: Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s
Worth A Thousand Words: Leadership, Character & Empathy
White House photographer Pete Souza worked for Reagan from 1983-1989. That link will take you to some highlights of Souza’s work from that era. This link is more a detailed display of Souza’s work. At Reagan’s funeral in 2004, Souza was invited by Nancy Reagan to be the photographer for the event.
Souza then went to work for the Obama Administration. As he says in his documentary, both men represented: “Leadership, Character & Empathy.”
This was the old “Reaganism,” simply defined as decency, the feature that now eludes the Lindsey Graham’s of the Party.
“So even as he became more mythologically grand within the conservative movement, the tenets of Reaganism — the idea of American engagement in the world and the idea of an optimistic, upbeat conservatism and big tent Republican Party — all seem to be on the wane.” –Nicole Hemmer
After the 2012 re-election of Barack Obama, the GOP put together a 97 page autopsy report in an effort to guide the party back toward the optimism and inclusive vibes of the Reagan Era.
In 2015, the Party did a 180 on everything in the report and nominated a man who bragged about grabbing women’s pussies. Reaganism, like Reagan, was officially, Dead.
It is beyond irony that, in 2024, the 180 opposites of everything the Party laid out in terms of character became the reality of the report…while the basic tenets found fertile soil. Attract more young people, attract more people of color. Don’t come across as the Party of only the rich. All driven by a man so repulsive and vile and who shines a light on the darkest parts of our souls.
Everything the 1990s through the early teens of the 21st Century that the GOP crafted, the anger, the bitterness, the vengeful rhetoric, insane conspiracy theories, the vitriol…it all came alive in the Frankenstein’s Monster they created in T***p.
“Morality Is for Trump What Colors Are to the Color-Blind” —The Atlantic
The perfect embodiment of everything awful and gross about humans grew from the seeds planted by Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich. The 1990s ushered in the era of partisan obstructionism and it has only deepened over the past three decades.
I Need the Noises of Destruction: Breaking Bad
“I mean, the Republican Party is a personality cult now. It's not a normal political party. I think that's already a moral injury to our society that we should be upset about, right?" –Sam Harris
US politics have been toxic since the founding. Alexander Hamilton was shot dead by the Vice President of the country (Aaron Burr). The article says, “After nearly two decades of insults, petty jabs, and smear campaigns…” Did Hamilton call Burr “Little Aaron,” or “Deranged Aaron?” Did Burr call Hamilton a “Low IQ individual,” or a “Born Loser?”
Look at two quotes from men on opposite ends of the political spectrum and who both made their names in the 1960s.
“What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it - as if the cause depends on you, because it does.” --Bill Moyers
“I profoundly believe it takes a lot of practice to become a moral slob.” --William F. Buckley, Jr.
Two radically different men and yet a sense of what is right, what is decent and what is moral is their imperative. Buckley loved to play with his guests on Firing Line like a cat playing with a toy, but you can imagine he and Moyers having a rousing intellectual discussion without any “Jane, you ignorant slut” moments.
Up until the 1970s, most of Congress was filled with people who were ex-military. They had worn the uniform of the country, and while they had their ideological differences, they found a way to get together to solve problems for the country they served. Servant leadership.
Today’s Congress is made up primarily of lawyers and attorneys, people who know how to argue, how to drag things out, and who are artists of obfuscation and mendacity.
The last man in the GOP to hold fast to Reaganism was John McCain. Before McCain brought anything to the floor of the Senate, he would invite 3-4 members of each party to his ranch in Arizona and they would drink booze and barbeque and work things out. McCain was a military man and had “Leadership, Character & Empathy.” McCain’s passing marked the end of an era. Joe Biden may sadly represent the last President to want bipartisanship.
Washington D.C. has been about “breaking things” for decades. Yet, in 2024, this is what people think is coming? Breaking the Deep State? Breaking the government? Please. Project 2025 is a nuclear bomb. You can’t break it when it has been obliterated.
Hopefully, next Thanksgiving we’ll have something to be thankful for even though it’s not evident as of yet what that might be.🪽
So thankful for the brief reprieve we got from the horror of this amoral lunatic from Joe Biden. And for the moments of joy we received from Kamala Harris.