And you wonder how Donald Trump was elected??

[Soph0571]

[link:https://whatwouldjackdo.org/2019/03/05/and-you-wonder-how-donald-trump-was-elected/|

The roots are deep and long

[dchill]

1. Cheeze Whiz. I remember, too. And I will never forget.

The worse things he did, the more of a saint he became.

[lastlib]

2. I also remember the basturd cut off my financial aid for college....

...DOUBLED my tuition payment, and cost my dad his job when I was in college. I would probably have a law degree if it hadn't been for him. Will NEVER forget or FORGIVE the sonofabitch!

[MotorCityMan]

6. What I will not forget or forgive St Ronnie for

is his doing NOTHING about AIDS, because it was killing the "right" sort of people. Hell, I remember his people joking about it. He never even mentioned it until Rock Hudson died in 85.

[lunatica]

10. I will never forget that either

I lived in the Bay Area so it started as news on the local tv stations. I remember when the AIDS epidemic started in San Francisco. Just a few guys dying of a mysterious blood related disease. I remember soon after that the disease was traced to a very popular bath house for Gay men. And god help me, I remember the exploding numbers of death after that. People ran scared not knowing if it was contagious. I think it was Rock Hudson’s death that turned that around. Famous actors came out to fight the disease and the ignorance. Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor. I remember Ryan White and his bravery and how his school united behind him.

Ronald Reagan and the GOP were and are monsters. Trump fits right in.

[Ligyron]

14. I remember elders saying they figured it was gawd's way of punishing those licentious libertines.

Especially those "homosexual" types. If you didn't do those disgusting things, why you had nothing to worry about, did you?

I distinctly recall my Father's 2nd wife proclaiming this wisdom while my Dad nodded sagely in agreement.

Of course, I just had to ask them if all those kids like Ryan or people needing transfusions deserved being sentenced to death as well.

*Crickets*

That was always the thing about religion. It made a kind of sense as long as you didn't think about it too much.

[murielm99]

36. Did you read

And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts?

I think it is still an outstanding and relevant book about the AIDS pandemic.

[mikeysnot]

27. Gay Cancer

is what they were calling it early on. So Homophobe's just thought it would not affect them.

[Different Drummer]

28. "...because it was killing the "right" sort of people."

This.

[uponit7771]

20. +1

[triron]

3. But he wasn't. Putty installed him.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. Rotten Ronnie

Precursor for the Shrub and TrumPutin.

[Gothmog]

5. Great cartoon

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. And never ever forget

what he did to Mental Health in this country.

"One month prior to the election, President Carter had signed the Mental Health Systems Act, which had proposed to continue the federal community mental health centers program, although with some additional state involvement. Consistent with the report of the Carter Commission, the act also included a provision for federal grants “for projects for the prevention of mental illness and the promotion of positive mental health,” an indication of how little learning had taken place among the Carter Commission members and professionals at NIMH. With President Reagan and the Republicans taking over, the Mental Health Systems Act was discarded before the ink had dried and the CMHC funds were simply block granted to the states. The CMHC program had not only died but been buried as well. An autopsy could have listed the cause of death as naiveté complicated by grandiosity."

[UpInArms]

25. This 👆🏼

The repercussions from that vile act still reverberate throughout our country

[kairos12]

8. I've always hated Raygun.

[Solly Mack]

9. K&R

[mtngirl47]

11. And never forget that Reagan

killed the Fairness Doctrine which set us up for all the hate radio and eventually fox.

[Still In Wisconsin]

17. In my opinion that might be the most damaging thing he did.

At the time people were kinda "meh" about it. But, without that move, as you noted: no Limbaugh, no Hannity, no Faux, etc. etc. etc. It's easy argue that the lack of Fairness Doctrine gave us both Bushes, Trump, the 2010 Republican wave, the 1994 Republican wave, Alito, Roberts, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and so many more on the state and local level.

I am 100% sure that Scott Walker would have never been elected Governor of my state, let alone three times, without Milwaukee-based hate radio.

[UpInArms]

26. The white paper was written by Robert Bork

Evil evil evil

[Generic Brad]

12. I've been at a heightened and increasing level of frustration since 1980

I have clearly seen that the normalization of extremism was eventually going to lead to the end of the cul de sac we now find ourselves on. It has been exhausting being outraged for all but 16 of the last 39 years.

[GetRidOfThem]

13. And it was so charming when he liberated those students in Grenada!

Don't forget that very important military intervention on that tiny island...

[katmondoo]

15. He made sure doctors did not give in to anyone needing disability payments from Social Security

My brother applied was refused and died a month later. Thanks Ron

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. The election of Ronald Reagan was the beginning of the end.

He did all thing in the cartoon and already posted here and much more.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that future historians will absolutely date the beginning of the fall of this country to Reagan. Perhaps some historians already have.

[jimmil]

19. I have to disagree... respectfully

I believe it was the election of Nixon and even more so, the Watergate scandal. Most of Reagan's pals that got him elected were old Nixon cronies. They were pissed that Nixon got caught and was run out of town on a rail. They found a chump in Reagan that they could control easily and carry out their policies benefiting their pocket books. Now I hated Reagan and still would like to piss on his grave but I do sometimes remember he was not smart enough to do what he did and was just a lacky like every other Republican politician over the past 50 years.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. I will disagree back, with equal respect.

Nixon was simply another Republican of that era.

Some time back I saw a video about Nixon's first term, and it was shocking in that as it was totally pre-Watergate, and therefore the Nixon shown wasn't at all like the man we've grown used to. He wasn't venal, he wasn't a crook, he wasn't scum. In short, he was the President we collectively (not me, I wasn't quite old enough to vote and had I been, I'd have voted for Humphrey) elected. And he really wasn't that bad in his first term. Remember that he's responsible for such things as the EPA.

Reagan's pals weren't a factor during Nixon's administration. I'm not so sure it was Nixon's cronies who were really responsible for Reagan's election, although if you present me with irrefutable proof I'll apologize for my ignorance.

But my point is that Nixon and his gang were not the downfall of this country. They really weren't. His administration gave us some wonderful things that are still around, such as the EPA. He was not committed to taking down things that protected ordinary Americans. That came later, under more recent Republican Presidents.

And keep in mind that Nixon's downfall, the whole Watergate thing, was really quite peripheral to political stuff. It was a stupid attempt to influence the election that didn't actually work.

But it did strongly influence Nixon's paranoia, I'll grant you that. And if you, or anyone reading this post, hasn't already read or seen "All the President's Men", I'd strongly suggest both watching the movie AND reading the book.

It's all too easy to have our judgement of the past influenced by what we know now. I want to suggest that you think about that very carefully.

And I want also to say that we may not be so very far apart in our assessment of this.

[Locrian]

29. I think reagan put a smile on it and made it acceptable

to be a selfish RW prick and especially to stick it to the liberals

But I think it goes back to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_National_Bank_of_Boston_v._Bellotti

First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978),[1] is a U.S. constitutional law case which defined the free speech right of corporations for the first time. The United States Supreme Court held that corporations have a First Amendment right to make contributions to ballot initiative campaigns. The ruling came in response to a Massachusetts law that prohibited corporate donations in ballot initiatives unless the corporation's interests were directly involved.

[shadowmayor]

32. Hogwash

He torpedoed the peace talks which LBJ rightly called treason. Had the longshoremen break the legs of paralyzed Nam vets protesting at the convention and bombed the hell out of Cambodia and Laos. He also launched the careers of Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest. I could go on and on.

[NewJeffCT]

38. I was wondering just the other day how history would have changed

if the Spec Ops raid to rescue the hostages had succeeded instead of crashed in the desert and also if George Will hadn't gotten a hold of Carter's stolen debate prep notes. Would just those 2 things have been enough to put Carter over the top?

The Fairness Doctrine wouldn't have been rescinded, the PATCO strike wouldn't have ended with all of them being fired, the solar panels would stayed on the White House, the top tax rate would not have been reduced so dramatically while turning the US from a net creditor nation to a net debtor... no Scalia on the SCOTUS, no Anthony Kennedy, either. Maybe Thurgood Marshall or William Brennan gets Chief Justice instead of Rehnquist?

(I've been reading a lot of alternative history books the past few years, so these sorts of things pop into my head at times)

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

39. Yes. Things would be quite different now

if we hadn't had Reagan.

I likewise read alternate history, and often think that way.

On Election night in 2016 I went to bed long before it was clear Trump had won, and when my radio went off the next morning to the BBC, I felt like I had entered and alternate Universe. I could not at first make sense of what the announcers were saying, and was horrified when I did understand.

[Volaris]

18. I don't wonder, not at all.

20 percent of this country don't give a shit as long as their Facebook stays on. Another 30 Percent have been brainwashed by propoganda. An additional 10 percent have ALWAYS been generationally, abjectly stupid and proud of it.

This, combined with a little bit of Randian-ism, and a little bit of Foreign Intelligence know-how, is EXACTLY how Trump got elected.

[lostnfound]

24. K&R

[pdsimdars]

30. Funny and on point

[OldBaldy1701E]

31. Don't I know this one!

I listened to my own dear grandmother gush about Raygun for decades, even after most everything was exposed. As an entertainer, I knew an acting job when I saw one then, and I am seeing one again in all those who sit by while that demented oligarch we have in power makes all of his oligarch friends richer at our expense. Of course, he knows we won't do much, because the alternative is a complete evangelical nut case who would return this country to the 1600s. Let's just gear up for 2020 and remove ALL of these self-obsessed idiots from our government once and for all. And, I do mean ALL! (Pleasure to meet you, DU)

[marble falls]

34. Welcome. Its not enough to achieve the White House, we need ALL the offices!

[gopiscrap]

40. welcome to DU

[moondust]

33. The Father of Grotesque Inequality

[red dog 1]

35. "Ronnie Ray Gun" was what one of my professors at San Francisco State called him, because he

"zapped" the budget for mental health services after he became governor of CA.

The man was evil!

He closed down many mental hospitals in the state..to save money..and many of the patients from those hospitals had nowhere to go and are now still homeless on the streets of CA cities & towns....Thanks to "The Teflon Man".

[llmart]

37. No one's mentioned how he treated the air traffic controllers that were union.

It was the beginning of the end for unions in this country and yet so many of those ex-union people have completely forgotten which party did that to them. I know many of them in my area who are somehow able to rationalize that all away because they got their union benefits and are now fat, happy and retired with old-fashioned pensions.