bendog
Diamond Member
Reagan skirted towards impeachment, and his apporvals went in the toilet. He was pretty ineffective domestically after 2006. But like I posted, I don't think his 1980 communications with Iran were improper. He and Maggie Thatcher probably talked.A previous president was, "teflon coated" not "coated with glue".OK. I don't see support for you view. But it's a free country ... for now anyway.sure.You think other presidents have come into office with comparable secret meetings?i agree to stand by my original opinion.I don't think it's politics as usual. Presidents Elects so sometimes have communications with foreign powers. The left tried to make something of Reagan's with the Iranians, but there just wasn't much there. The Iranians wanted to get rid of the hostages, but they hated Carter. Lat
I don't think it's politics as usual. Presidents Elect have communications with for powers. That's usual. They seek to establish relationships. The left tired to make something of Reagan and the Iranians in 1980, but there wasn't anything unusual. The Iranians wanted to get rid of the hostages, but they hated Carter. Later on, Reagan pretty much ended his presidency by illegally dealing with them, but that was a different animal. There'd be nothing wrong with Trump chatting up Putin, and even suggesting diplomatic ways to ending sanctions. There was nothing wrong with Jared and Ivanka vacationing with Murdoch's ex and Putin's punch. Unseemly perhaps but not necessarily unethical.
What smells here is the need for secrecy. and the ongoing failures to list meetings which were legally required to be disclosed. In the end there may not be a smoking gun. But they were up to something. And it probably involved ending sanctions without Russia getting out of Ukraine. We may not have that proven. But we're going to learn that Trump owes the oligarchs Big League.
One difference may be that Reagan understood govt. He was an outsider, but an outsider with critical thinking and principled allies, like William Buckley and formerly cold warrior dems like Kilpatrick.
Conversely, the only one in the WH with actual experience is Priebus, who is a toady big firm lawyer and party loyalist. He's not a guy with a vision. Bannon is an outsider who hates the notion of govt.
Reagan came in with two ideas - confront the Soviets on every field, and lessen the power of the fed govt over the states. He'd loved to have ended Medicare, but he knew a loser issue when he saw it. Trump started with one of the two issues guaranteed to keep a majority disapproving of him, healthcare. He took a pass on soc sec and the deficits. The only way to take those on is a bipartisan compromise where both parties have to face the music, and one can't blame the other.