General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How will Obama be remembered? [View all]MatthewG.
(362 posts)Ill backhandedly agree Reagan was a better President than W or Trump - even despite the fact that the Iran Contra scandal probably alone should be enough to have blackened his reputation forever.
He wasnt hugely popular when he left office - I was alive and kicking at the time, and he was mostly snickered at, even by centrists, for being dimmed by age and out of touch with what the really smart people in Washington were up to.
Mostly Reagan was a bit better than W and Trump because the GOP was less insanely conservative in the 1980s and conservative culture was less ossified at a media level, which gave him a little more freedom to make moderate judicial and advisory picks.
If Reagan were President in todays culture hed be as bad as W was. Maybe very slightly better than Trump, in the sense that while not brilliant, he wasnt a Trump level egomaniac or swine and his presence didnt endanger the integrity of the country through inappropriate ties to Russia.