The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 400 - Ronald Reagan w/ guest Patton Oswalt (Part 1)

Episode Date: October 15, 2019

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds are joined by Patton Oswalt to examine the life of Ronald Reagan. Part 1 of 2.SourcesTour DatesRedBubble Merch

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All Things Comedy Network. This is a bilingual American history podcast we're each week. It's changing. I, Dave Anthony, Miracle Worker, Man Who Hates Miracle Whip. He's all miracle themed and a third. I can't think of another miracle thing. Sure. Come on. Read the story from American, you used to live on the Miracle Mile. Read the story from American history to his friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is about and nemesis. And that was brutal. We're not nemesis again for the last time. I pick who my nemesis is. We talk. You're 100% my nemesis. It's not how it works. I'm the fucking hippo guy.

Dave, okay. My name's Gary. My name's Gary. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to become a tickly podcast. Okay. This is like an adult five-part coefficient. My room's a flame. Now hit him with the puppy. You both present sick arguments. Don't sleep down hippo. That's like the hippo. Actually partner. Hi, Gary. No. Is he done, my friend? No. No. Ronda, Ronda, Ronda. At some point, I'm gonna actually remember to bring in the new theme. But it's, we're coming up on, well, we are. We're 400. Yeah, we're not coming. We are. This is 400. So we should probably have anything. Yeah, okay. Great. Great idea. Our guest, our first ever celebrity guest?

How's that? Sure, sure. Pam's not as well. I mean, I think our guest is bigger than Pam. Patton Oswald joins us for number 400. Hello, everyone. Hi. What's my, which camera's mine? Where's my goddamn eye line? Oh, yeah, we should write that one. Oh, yeah. Jesus Christ. We're also on. Blew my intro. Unbelievable. Well, obviously, I decided to make you seem charming. Oh, good. Thank you. That's all right. Originally, so for this episode, I lied to Patton. I told him it was gonna be at Henry Kissinger to get him in here. Oh, what? Wait, you lied to him? So you thought that would get me? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did Christopher Hitchens leave any meat on those bones? Don't you love genocide? Yeah. Oh my

God. So it's not about Kissinger. I wasn't lied to at all. So I'm still in the same house. Hey, Aaron, do you want to put up the image? Wow. Wow. For real. Oh my God. Episode number 400 is our friend, Ronald Reagan. Oh my God. Dave. That's right. RWR. Let's do it. Hell, yeah. February 6, 1911. Year of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ronald Wilson Regan was born at home. Well, yeah. Nice. He's born. Save that. Save that. Oh, sorry. He's not quite there. Oh, sorry. His parents were Jack and Nell, and he had an older brother, Neil. Young Ronald had a Dutch boy haircut, so he was known as Dutch. Sure. For a long time, he was called Dutch. I'm not going to call him Dutch. Jack and Nell acted in local shows, and Jack really liked to drink. Great. Okay. And his

drinking became worse and worse and worse over the years. Family moved a lot. Five times in ten years when he was young, Jack would sell shoes, and so he'd go to a different town. He'd get fired for drinking, and they move on to the next town. Just a good old-fashioned life. That's perfect. I just love that you can be a guy who sells shoes and show up in a new town and be like, I know shoes. And I don't drink. All right, I'm a drunkard that doesn't have any shoes. Well, let's give him a house anyway. He's got two kids and a wife. Give him a house. So they finally settled for good in Dixon, Illinois. Jack was very, very liberal, and he was very vocal about it. He talked about reapportioning wealth. He was very against the Ku Klux Klan,

and he instilled a respect for FDR in young Ronald. Okay. So Ronald grew up idolizing FDR. Grew up there. As you can see. Yeah, very liberal. My God. Come on. The connection seems clear. It's yeah. He was athletic. He played basketball, baseball, and he ran track. He went to Eureka College and joined the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Nice. That's a good one. Yeah, that's one of the best. See, Tykes. Epsilon in man. Yeah. Yeah. At some point, the fraternity demanded the college president's resignation after he decided to cut some programs. Okay. So Ronald's fraternity is behind this big movement. They get everyone to go on strike. There's a student strike. What service are you removing? The students are their employees. The students go

on strike. They go on strike. Okay. We are halting our intellects and not gaining any more knowledge right now. Knowledge strike. Freshman Ronald Reagan gives the speech of demands. Okay. Because he's a big liberal. Uh-huh. And they win and the president is forced out. Whoa. Okay. Wow. Ronald Reagan learns the power of strikes. And that was the basis of the movie Animal House. Did I get that right? Let me go on IMDBL. Check that out. Hang on. I might be wrong. Go ahead. After college, Ronald wanted to work in radio. But he got a job at the Star Courier newspaper. And his job was to announce baseball scores. Okay. That's pretty easy. So what he would do is, so the baseball scores are coming after the paper was printed. Right. So what he

would do is, he was hired to walk out on the second floor balcony with a megaphone. And he would announce baseball scores to fans in the street. Wait, I'm sorry. A sport crier? Yeah. He's a human glockenspieler. Oh, it's three o'clock. Reagan's coming out. Hello. Send us in. It's the male ticker. What the hell? People would sit in the street and he would walk out and go like, the Cardinals scored. It's three to two. What a great job. Wow. Talk about a job where you could drink like your father. So he was a podcaster. Yeah. So that kicked off his sports broadcasting career. From there, he moved into radio and he worked his way all the way up to announcing for the Cubs. Okay. No, he wouldn't go to games. He would announce, they would go out

and someone would send him what was happening through Morris Code. And then he would make it up on the fly. He would make what up on the fly. He would get like a Morris Code thing and be like, someone stole third. Like they had Morris Code for everything that was happening on the field. Would he make it seem like he was watching it as it happened? Yes. And he would play a record that had a pause and he hit it with his foot. Oh, this is becoming like genuinely kind of sad. Entertainment was so awful back then. We're just excited about nothing. It was really easy. It was, man. Wow. Word on the street is a lot of people didn't show up to the games because I thought they were sold out. Yeah, exactly. So he did that for a while. He became huge. He has millions of

listeners listening to his Cubs game where he's fake calling. Sure. He announces for four years. And then he talks to him in descending. He talks to the owners in the setting him out with the Cubs of Spring Training. Okay. Because he has his eyes on Hollywood. So he goes to Spring Training in California. The Cubs used to train on Catalina Island. Wait. The Chicago Cubs. And also, knowing how difficult transport was back then. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get them. Let's move them across and then off the continent to an island. What's the hardest place we can get to? Welcome to Baseball Island. You're playing for your lives, boys. If you get cut, you got to swim off. Good Lord. Just seems insanely efficient. Yeah, right. So he starts. We lost three on the journey of

Spring Training. And we lost our picture in a swell. It's all right. Big title surge. The bow pins drowned. Boys, next year we're getting a boat to get to the island. That'll be good. That's a good investment. So he starts networking. And soon he gets a screen test and Warners offers him a seven-year contract. Okay. Nice. So they change his name from Dutch Reagan to Ronald Reagan. So hang on. So he was now just full-time Dutch Reagan. He was Dutch Reagan. This is the first time he became Ronald Reagan. Hello. Welcome to the Dutch Reagan Radio Hour. He's just me and a crowdful of people. Drop the needle, Bob. Listen to them today. They sound just like last week. His parents moved close. So Ronald could help take care of them. It's nice. His dad's

still drinking. His dad's still drinking. These guys need shoes. Do your friends need shoes, Ron? Dad, get in the car. His parents lived in West Hollywood. Did they? All right. His dad's liberal. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Ronald was in eight movies in 1938, all B movies. And then he started dating Jane Wyman while she was married to her second husband. Oh, Reagan. Yeah. Ronnie. Little Dutchy baby. The Screen Actors Guild, SAG. Did he play a record of her having orgasms and had sex? In his foot. That's right. You like that, don't you? She would send him telegrams as to what she was doing sexually. Now I'm taking off your panties. Oh, that's hot. More sexed. So the Screen Actors Guild, SAG, had just started. Ronald called SAG, quote, a damned noble

organization. Nice. Okay. He became very involved. And Ronald loved to talk about politics. Some actors found him annoying. When they worked with them, one actor said they would all try to avoid sitting with him at lunch. Oh, my God. To avoid, quote, Professor Reagan's discourses. Oh, God. And Professor Reagan over there. You know where we got bean sprouts? Here he is. Good Lord. Well, it turns out Ronald had gotten a subscription to Reader's Digest, and he would read every episode front to back and regurgitated to anyone who would listen. Well, that's the problem with him getting these crier gigs. He's just like, if I just talk to people, they're in. You know, that reminds me of how humor can be found in uniform. You know, one time, as the table vacates,

we're all like, we know what you're doing, Ronnie. He probably just wanted to sit alone. Yeah. God, readers, just imagine. Do you know how tables were made? A man found a piece of wood and then he found four others. Hold on. I'm just getting going. You won't believe what happens next. There's a table. I can't believe Reader's Digest made this into a 10 page story, but here we go. What a ride. So Jane was pressuring Ronald into marrying, and he did not want to marry. He's dragging his feet. So she threatened to kill herself if she did. He didn't. Wow. How gosh. Which is not powerful. Not a red flag. No, not at all. Yeah. Then you do it. You do it. I mean, you obviously do it. You're like, oh, well, she really wants it. You don't date that girl. You

marry her. I didn't think you were serious until you did that. Yeah. Okay. So these feelings are for real. So she did. She, in January 1940, she ODed on pills and was hospitalized. Jesus Christ. The next day they were engaged. Ladies, that's how you do it. Oh, so she survived from Jane Wine. Wow. I didn't believe you. It is very hard. At that point, it's hard to say no. You're really boxed in. You really are. Well, yeah, I mean, she's in a hospital bed. You're like, for sure. Yeah, we should totally. Yes, absolutely. This seems. Sure. Let's talk to some doctors and some brain people. But yeah. So he didn't want to have a baby. She did. So they had a baby. Yeah, you don't push back anymore in this marriage. This now is, it's unpushed backable. You know,

anything. I'd like you to sleep in the tub. All right. Well, I mean, this is part and parcel with him just regurgitating what he's told to do. Read these sports scores. Marry this crazy woman. Hat she wants a baby. Give her a baby. All right. Well, it's booze. It's booze. I don't push back. So they had baby Maureen. Ronald got his big break in 1940 in Newt Rockney, All American. The Gipper. Oh, okay, right. Jack died and and they supported Ronald's mom. So Ronald. The guy leave the shoes to the reading of the will shoes. It's gonna be a while guys. He had a lot of them. He was drunk. He was burying some of them. We don't know what he was doing in the yard. There's a bunch of shoe maps here. So let's get moving out of the market. Yeah.

So Ronald, the war is on. Ronald is a pacifist. Wow. What a vocal pacifist. But he gets called up. He gets two deferments. Warners held them out with one and then after two, they're like, you got to go. So in 1942, he's assigned to go into the army. Okay. And he is sent to first motion picture unit in Hollywood. Whoa. What? He got the point? What? Actually Culver sitting. Oh, okay. What? How does that? You're serving under Colonel Karloff. What? I mean, do you even need to take a bus anywhere? He's just fucking living at home. He's just gonna drive on. Yeah, I gotta drive out of the base. I'll spot right up front. To action. All right. I want your boys to start pretending. Stop pretending you're other people, boys. You slimey scumbag,

you call that acting? I want five accents and I want them now. Now you choke yourself. Hello, Gavna. Oh, get this guy out of here. Christ. So what they did was they made Recurban films. He was in some, he narrated some. He was on recruiting posters and he went around the country selling bonds. Right. So he's like a salesman for the war. Exactly. Yeah. Which I don't think it was hard to get people to join, but whatever. People were fired up as a pacifist. This is weird. A bit of a shift. Yeah, but kind of perfect for him. He doesn't have to go fight. Right. Logically, yes, that actually makes sense. He's not. The shift is to personal pacifism. I don't think he really, I mean, as we get through this story, you'll, you'll realize he doesn't care about other

people all that much. What Ronnie? So he never leaves the US during the war, but because he's so out there, he's considered a war hero. Wow. Right. He's, he's the PR guys. Wow. The face of the face. Fantastic. Way to go, Ron. In March 1945, they adopted a baby, Michael Edward. And in December 1945, Ronald was discharged. Okay. Now, so that's about three years. All right, clean out your trailer. Yeah, I mean, honestly, yeah. To soldier turning your food voucher. Can I have your commissary pass? Yeah. Put the commissary coffee down. You have been discharged. You're out of here. That's army coffee. Come on. The regular one's actually next to it. There's regular coffee right next to the army one right there, Ron. Great work over there. So he, now he's, it's,

things have changed. He is sort of, his type is completely outdated in Hollywood. There's something looking for nuanced, interesting actors. He's really one dimensional and bland. He's like the old school. On time and sober. Right. That's right. So two unions, Ayatsi and CSU were fighting for control of crews in Hollywood. Okay. And Ayatsi called CSA communists. All right. Okay. And so Ronald became a SAG vice president and CSU wanted to go on strike, but Ronald hated communists. Okay. So he got SAG to align with Ayatsi and reject the call for a strike. Okay. He said the strike quote was a plot to get economic control of the picture business and that the communists were subverting Hollywood to spur revolution. Here it is. Here's a nice little band. Here's our boy. Nice little

band happening. Yeah. Finally. There you go. He's complete a scientist. He's a long game. Yeah. So he talked endlessly, as we said. Oh God. At a party, he started blathering and Jane whispered to a friend, quote, I'm so bored with him. I'll either kill him or kill myself. That's, by the way, not an idle threat. Yeah. No, no. Not an idle threat at all. When she whispers that, you're like, Jane, not again. Jane. Well, you know, by the way, back then, one of the ways you could be branded a communist, and this is true, is if you hated Nazism too early. I'm not kidding. Early on, in the early 30s, it was communism or Nazism, and people who hated Nazism truly were like, well, you're obviously a communist. In other words, you had to start hating Nazism at the

right time. Yeah, right. That literally would get you tagged a communist. Wow. Because at first, fascism wasn't bad. Right. Or it wasn't looked at as bad by America. Yeah, right. It still isn't. That's actually very true. Exactly. So another night out there with a couple, and Jane said, quote, hey, diary of the mouth. Shut up. Maybe we can get in a word in Edgewass. Wow. All right. So she's fully, she's come full circle. She's out of the cocoon and flying out. Hey, Diarrhea Mouth. She's like a jerky boy now. It's like a, like a Lockhorn's comic. Yeah. I mean, honestly. Hey, Diarrhea Mouth. Hey. Hey, you traveled around with a symbol. Yeah. Hey, sizzle chest. Jane told June Allison, quote, don't ask Ronnie what time it is because he will tell you how a

watch is made. Wow. So they're having a great marriage. I mean, that's just a great marriage. Yeah. So Ronald still considers himself a New Deal Democrat. He believes in government. He thinks that government should own public utilities and not private companies. He's big into public housing. Like he's on board with the whole fucking deal. And he thought he had a duty at the same time to root out communists. Right. So McCarthyism comes along and Hollywood rats are naming names. That's right. And the FBI recruited Ronald Reagan as a snitch. Wow. Jesus Christ. Ronnie, I miss Dutch. Yeah. So three baseball scores. He would share private SAG files with the FBI. Holy shit. Wow. Yeah. What a douchebag. Yeah. And name suspected communists. Wow. Wow. Those were usually actors

who opposed his SAG leadership. Wow. So he was, I'm amazed he didn't use it like against actors that were getting roles that he won. Oh, that would have been a nice move. Like he did it to help his own career to get like all his hopes. Montgomery Cliff's not available anymore. I guess I'll have to step in and do this. I do more nuanced stuff now. That's great. Another guy would just like you, Ron. That's right. I don't know what the problem is. I'm the only good one left, it seems. So Ronald became president of SAG in March, 1947. Jane was pregnant with her third child. It's good to keep having children in this situation. It sounds, I mean, I think it's the only way to shut him up is to fuck him. Right. A diarrhea mouth, throw a baby in me. Well, all right. Well,

all right. I guess I could sling one more. But do you want to hear about, no, just fuck me. Jesus Christ. Well, you know, the gas turbine has an interesting history. Put the pillow on your mouth. Shut up and come. Well, it's going to be a while. Do you hear about the baseball scores? Cardinals are dipping. You know, bees can't see the color red. So Ronald is shooting a movie. He's shooting with a Shirley Temple. It's like her first, like I'm an adult movie. Oh, wow. And he decides to do his own stunt. Okay. What high level stunts are in this Shirley Temple vehicle? Yeah, exactly. Well, it's just jumping into a lake. Well, the first John Wick movie was a remake of the Shirley Temple one. I don't know if you know that. That was originally a Shirley Temple film. John Wick,

little cutie grown up. All grown up. So he jumps in this cold lake over and over and over and over again. And a couple of days later, later, he is hospitalized with pneumonia. Oh, God. And it's a bad kind. It's like some weird viral one. And they don't know if he's going to ever die. It's Lake Damone. So Jane goes into premature labor, has the baby, baby dies. So he gets out, he survives, sorry. It's tough. The ripple effect of that lake death. Really, really changed some things, I think. Really would have that lake would be a national monument. I've got one more in me. Now, Ron, we got it. I could do one more. Now we're good. That director's call changed history forever. In October, Ron testified in front of the HUAC as a friendly witness, right? Communist

hearings. He didn't name anyone. But when he came home, Jane demanded a divorce. She got custody of the children. And after the divorce, Ronald ran into Errol Flynn. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Flynn told him, quote, be happy, old sport. Think of the parties. Think of the girls. Do what I do. Well, you have sex with a 13-year-old. Errol Flynn was a fucking monster. That's not a, don't follow that example. It's awful. It's good news, Ron. Yeah. If you ever heard. Just drink a quart of gin and then take your dick out of the playground. It's like old Errol Flynn. Have you ever heard Errol Flynn episode? It's crazy. I know that, I mean, I've read his autobiography. It's horrifying. Maybe one of the worst humans I've ever done. Yes, totally was. Oh, wow. So this is 15 years

after Errol's rape trial. So Ronald takes his advice. Obviously. Obviously, yeah. And begins womanizing. Ronald had read that World War I vets were forgiven their taxes for the years they served. Right? So when they served, they came back and like, you don't have to pay taxes for those years. Thank you for your service, a tax per year. So he knew that when he went into the service, so he just didn't pay his taxes that year, thinking that the same thing would happen to World War II vets. Okay. That didn't happen. The government did not forgive their taxes. Okay. Ronald was livid. He was in Hollywood. Like, I understand. I mean, he is literally acting like he's a soldier now. Not only was the part I was born to play. Not only was he in Hollywood,

but his salary, like his normal salary was like, in our money, be like $45,000 a year. And then when he went into the army, it was, it was like, you know, a thousand bucks a month. Like, he didn't have to pay that much in taxes. Right. But he was just mad by the concept of it. Like, he's, he's like, he's like one of those dads that's forced to pay alimony and is mad. Yeah, right. Men's rights. Suddenly, he's into men's rights. Hey, those, listen, I served those key lights were hot. All right. Some of those close-ups were brutal. We lost two grips at lunch that day. That ravioli was old. Still haunted. So his acting career is now floundering, as we said. Any movies, any, he's getting bad reviews. There's no audiences coming out. Also, I think post-divorce,

Jane's skyrocketed. Yeah, she's taking her career, like, got started going really well. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. So Jack Warner also casts Errol Flynn in a movie that Ronald had brought to the studio. He brings a script to the studio and he's like, can I make this? And he's like, yeah, just do these other movies first. And then they end up casting Errol Flynn in the movie that Ronald brought to him. Oh, God. He's not happy about that. Right. No. Then in June, 1949, Ronald broke his leg in six places in a charity baseball game. Jesus. Well, how hard was he pulled? Did anyone tell him? Just a charity. What the hell? Fuck you, Bob Hope. I'm going to clean him. Yeah. She tried to slide into Tor Johnson, snapped his femur. My femur, my leg. Well,

I'm out. Yeah, Ethel Merman, like, line-derived him. She's the catcher. She spiked him. Oh, God, Ethel, got out of my way. So he spent six weeks in the hospital, like, in traction or whatever, you know? Jesus. And then he reflects on his life. He's 38. He's divorced. He's got a fading movie career. So things, he's realizing things aren't great. Now, Nancy Davis had been kicking around Hollywood for a while. Sure. She was raised by her actress mother and Dr. Stepfather, who was not tolerant of anyone he believed to be intellectually inferior. Sure. That included blacks, Catholics, and Jews. Interesting. And Nancy adored him. Oh, God. She accepted his belief that, quote, men were to be the leaders and women to follow. Oh, dear.

She studied drama at college, and then... White drama. She studied white drama. Right. White manly drama. That's what she studied. Only that. Only white manly drama. She gets out to become an actress, and now Spencer Tracy had been nursed through his alcoholic binges by Nancy's stepfather. Okay. So... By the way, when he would finish a movie, he would check and do this. It's true. He would stay sober during the shooting. He would check into a hotel room with a steamer case full of liquor. He would sit naked in the bathtub and just drink, puke, and shit all over himself, stand up, wash it all down the drain, sit down, and just keep going for like two weeks. That's what he would do in between shoots. I'm not kidding. Oh, my God. It was just... What are you

doing for hiatus, Spencer? I'm doing the old shit flume again. I just wrapped on Captain's Gragias, and it's time to drink a vat of Scott. Off to my waist, tub. And yet, that is someone's porn. Yeah, it is. Like, someone wants that. Goddamn it. I want to get one of those to Spencer Tracy. Please tell me somebody filmed that. So, her stepfather nursed them through these binges or whatever he had to deal with at the end of those. I mean, wouldn't you just stand in the bathroom like, all right, Spence, nice shit. I assume that he would take him out of it so he could get to a movie. I'm sure he would at the end of the toot he was on. He would then do a week of drying him out and then get him. Because she was like, we need him in a week. Yeah. It's like,

okay, all right, all right, get him ready. Pick him up out of his vomit tub. Get the hose. Hey, hose off, Spencer Tracy. We got this desk set script. It's just going to be really good. I'll get him an Oscar. Somebody hose him off. Hands are tied on a meat hook. Flip him. Flip him. Keep spinning him. Get the fire hose. This is really caked on the back like paint. It's like from Scarface, except it's not a hose. It's not a chainsaw to hose. So many de-vomit Spencer. We got to shoot in there at the wind. So he, because of the connection, promises to get Nancy a screen test. Okay. The same time he gives her a number to Clark Gable, and they dated for a few months. Hey, thanks, Ron. The studio casting director, so he gets like a big director to shoot it and a big

actor and gives it to the studio casting director who watches Nancy's screen test and quote, told the studio she had no talent. Okay, Doki. But Tracy still got the studio to sign her anyway. It's clout. Yeah. Nancy dated a few men according to Kitty Kelly. Nancy quote, was around in Hollywood for performing oral sex. What? Wow. Best head in Hollywood. I read that Kitty Kelly book. It was pretty brutal. And I looked into it. I'd like to see if it was real or not. And everyone's like, yeah, it's salacious, but there's a lot of, there's real, it's real. God. Okay. So at some point, she decided she wanted Ronald. Okay. And she set her sights on him, and he finally asked her out. She loved his nonstop chatter. Oh, what? Okay, that's interesting.

This is new for me. Tell me more about how a lock system works. It's not easy. It's lengthy and not easy, not entertaining, but let's start. Do you know about rope? So she realized that astrology was the key to his heart. Oh, I thought that was a thing that didn't happen till the white, the far back is the 40s. She was, wow. So she would go to monthly meetings with Ronald at Carol Writers Mansion. Writers was big shit in Hollywood. He was a Philadelphia lawyer who became an astrologer and now advised big names like Kerry Grant, Princess Grace, and Ronald Reagan. Wow. Okay. So astrology is like this big thing. Just a new thing, yeah. In public, Nancy always tried to be by Ronald's side, and she would spend as much time as she could with his kids

playing, singing, dancing, having a good time. Okay. They dated for three years, and all the while, Ronald saw other women. Wow. Interesting. He was in love with an actress named Christine Larson, who he proposed to in 1951, but she turned him down. Okay. So they kept their relationship secret. He and Nancy. No, Nancy's out. He and Christine. No one knows about Christine. Oh my God. So photos would appear in magazines of Ronald with many women. May 1950, silver screen, quote, never thought we'd come right out and call Ronnie Reagan a wolf, but let's face it, suddenly every glamour gal considers him a super sexy escort for the evening. It's too much. I think we've all agreed. We're all experiencing is it's just too much. It's good God. The fifties were so awful. Look at the wolf

taking the meat back to the lair. Yum, yum, yum. A-lister, Ron Reagan at it again. There were also women he did not take out in public who he was seeing, like Jacqueline Park. Quote, Ronnie never took me out in public, never gave me a present. He swore me a secrecy about our relationship and said I couldn't tell anybody at the studio about us. Sounds like a pretty healthy relationship. When I got pregnant, I found out that our relationship didn't really mean anything to him at all. He said, you're what? Well, it's not from me, not mine. No, sir, it's not mine. He was awful. He said, I know how you Hollywood starlets play around with everybody, and then you try to blame good people like me, but you can't get away with it. There's no proof that you've ever

been with me. You're just going to have to work this one out for yourself. I don't want to be involved, and then he hung up on me. I didn't know what to do. He was so powerful, and I was just a nobody, so I called my friend, and he arranged for me to have an abortion. Wow. Yes. Win one for the gipper. Yeah. Hey, Jesus. Then, so fucking sad anyway. Then Nancy right after that found out she was pregnant. Oh boy. Okay, let's see how Ronnie handles this. Yeah, from the mouth. Well, first, first he went right to Chris. You know what, if she'd only just said, no. Yeah, it's alright. Well, he immediately told Christine first and said he felt trapped. What? Yeah. A few days later, Ronald hit on Celine Walters at a club. She was 19. He was 41. She gave him her

number and address hoping he'd help her career. Okay. But Ronald showed up at 3am that night. Quote, he forced me on the couch, and I kept trying to keep a conversation going, saying stupid things like, oh, tell me about your latest movie. And oh, we'll talk about that another time. You're so beautiful. Let's get to know each other. He was so big, I couldn't fight him off. It was the most pitch battle I've ever had. And suddenly, in a matter of seconds, I lost. I was so shocked and angry because he had spoiled everything. I told him to, but he said, oh, I just couldn't help myself. Don't worry about a thing. I'm going to call you and we'll go hang out. And then we'll talk some more about your career. A week later, she read that her rapist was marrying Nancy Davis.

Oh my God. Fuck. I mean, I know this guy's a shit heel, but I did not recognize that he was a rapist. Yeah. I mean, it's that gigantic cosmic historical shitfuckery that he did. But then you're like, oh yeah, even in the little tiny personal moments, he was also just fucking stories. Every thing he could be shitty about, he was shitty about. That's fucking crazy. In the macro. Oh, God. I mean, the list of presidents who have rapes in one and it's just it's it's fucking crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's almost not like a thing you write of passage. But again, you got to keep in mind that up until recently, men forcing themselves on women was seen as a charming thing sometimes. Like you watch the fucking James Bond movies or, you know, they're

just forcing themselves and like, oh, what a man. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah, it's really not really narrow. I mean, what three of our last six presidents. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that we know of that we know. Yeah, exactly. It's probably more. I think we could probably take Jimmy Carter off the list. He probably dodged the ball. That we're probably pretty. He's been. He's been raised. Yeah. He's the one who's saying to someone like, no means no. I just I can't. I just trying to build you a house. I mean, I noticed. Yeah. So Nancy was two and a half months pregnant when they married. She refused to have anything to do with his kids after they got married. So right, she's playing with it. She's hanging out on her phone. When she gets married, done. Wow. And then

who was the kid they had together? That was Patricia. Okay. So his career was drying up and Nancy had no career. They had a lot of overhead. They had a home, a ranch supporting his mom. Child support and the IRS debt. So for money, he became a nightclub act in Vegas. What? What the Reagan did? He did three months. This is quite a wrinkle, David. I took it off because there was not a room, but it was just like song and dance shit. It was what you think. I'd like to invite a lady out of the audience. I could assault her. He's just reading sports scores. I'm doing the classics. I'll do the hits. This is about how communists are bad. Yeah, he would read the new leader's digest. Our show. So these pages are stuck together. Bear with me. Can you believe

that's how you make a table? Imagine. Two legs just wasn't cutting it. Licks finger turns page. God. So that last three months. Yeah. Patricia Reagan's born. He comes back. When Patricia was delivered the night of the delivery, Ronald was not at the hospital. He spent that time with Christine Larson. Wow. Not soon after Ronald went to Christine's and another man answered the door in a bath towel. Ronald was furious. He stormed off and that was the end of his affair with Christine. Larson. Such betrayal. Come on. What do you mean you're seeing someone else? You're mine. I can't find a loyal mistress. Good Lord. What in the world? I need a monogamous mistress. I can't for this town. It's a den of sin. All these mistresses are cheating on these married lovers. Dirty,

dirty girl. Disgusting. I do kind of love how much fucking was going on in Hollywood though. Yeah, it is nice. Yeah. I mean, it was probably pretty cool, you know. Yeah. Everybody's got everybody pregnant. So TB starts taking off. Talent agency MCA announced they were going to get into TB production. Okay. So Ronald helped negotiate a waiver for MCA to do both. So SAG has to give them a waiver because it's a super conflict of interest. Right. Okay. No other agency gets a waiver. Interesting. Wait how that works. Oh, MCA represents Ronald Reagan. That's an interesting development. Suddenly, MCA got Ronald tons of TV shows to be in at a higher rate than he deserved. Okay. So they gave him his old rate from when he was a star as opposed to like what he should get.

Right. And he's just working TV. Like on shows? Yeah, he's in TV shows and TV movies. Okay. In 1953, Ronald was picked to host General Electric Theater. Part of the job was also to go to GE plants, meet workers and make speeches. Oh, God. Oh, no. Here we go. Right. Here's the moment. The show is a huge hit and his GE handlers would give him right-wing literature to educate him about the problems with labor and things like that. Wow. And then at the same time, Nancy's stepfather, who was a John Bircher, was chatting in his ear about how bad the left was. And there it is. Yeah. A devil on each shoulder. This is not Mr. Pushback. All right. Things to talk about. I'm in. Talking points. Yum. His speeches won over workers. People related to

him, they felt he understood and shared their concerns. Soon other groups asked him to speak, and he would rant about communists taking over unions and big government. GE Theater had 25 million viewers a week. Oh, my God. Oh, what? Ronald became one of the most recognized men in the country. Wow. I always thought he was just in shitty eight movies. That's what I thought. He was. But no, he was a fucking big star. Once TV came, that kind of saved him. Right. Yeah. He was done without TV. Exactly. Yeah. He really hit a wall. He had like, he literally had, I think, one good film role. King's Row. That's it. And then everything else was just, now Bonzo. Oh, right. Right. I forgot about Bonzo. Yeah. And then terrible song and dance movies were like Dick

Powell. Dick Powell also kind of pushed him to the right, by the way. So did Bonzo from what I hear. Bonzo was also like, Ron, they're taking our bananas. Eat the orangutans or communists. In 1958, baby boy Ronald Prescott Reagan arrived. Michael was 14 and acting out. So Jane sent him to live with his dad. Okay. All right. Now, this is when seven-year-old Patty first met her half-brother Michael. Oh, wow. So, I mean, they were, so, did she know he existed? Wow. I think she knew he existed, but Nancy wouldn't allow the kids around at all. That's so fucked. So he never, she never, right. So that is, I mean, as a parent, imagine, yeah, like your, your, your daughter probably wish she had another, another kid of a brother or sister. So now imagine having one and never,

never letting them meet. Yeah. Like the monster you have to be as a parent to do that. Like to me, that's like insane. That the, and the kid is grows up, really having it hammered in their head. It's my life is getting lived first and then whatever is left over you'll get, but you're not the main focus. Right. I didn't get into it, but I read that Michael wrote a autobiography and at one point he wrote in it that he thought that there, that the black maid was his mother until he was like eight. So that guy's life was fucking fucked up. And so also Nancy is really a source of, I mean, she is making him a worse. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Clearly. Yeah. So Nancy agreed to let him come live with them. If he went to boarding school during the week and stayed at the Malibu

Ranch with Ronald on weekends, if he ever had to spend the night at the Pacific Palisades home, he had to sleep on the couch. That's nice. There you go. Olive branch. That's good imprinting. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Surely you're going to grow up being a generous person. That's certainly going to be the kind of guy who really cares how the waiter's feeling. Yeah. Yeah. And November of 1959, Ronald, he's back as president of SAG, even though he's been saying all the shit about unions, right? So he is back as president and he negotiates SAG rituals for old movies that are now being played on TV. Okay. Right. So no one, no one knew that GE had given him 25% ownership of GE theater productions. Wow. So he's management and negotiating for actors. Right. Is he getting

a cut of the residuals of all the movies or that's just it? Well, that's what he's negotiating for. Oh my God. Wow. So, but he's making tons of TV money. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And endorsements. He does crazy endorsements. That means he's not going to care about the TV movies all that much. Wow. So he got a good deal, but there was a one-time payout of two point two five million for movies that were made between 1948 and 1959. And that that money was used to start the health insurance and pension plan. So, so, so everyone else after at 1960 on, if their movies were playing on TV, they would get residuals. Right. So all these old actors, like Bob Hopeham, make you, make you run your fucking livid because they got nothing compared.

Right. Right. Ronald doesn't care because Ronald is making big TV money. Right. Exactly. And it seems like he did do something in a way. He did. He did. I mean, for us, he did something good. Yes. But he also, he also, would he have done, knowing what we know about this person, would he have done that? I think if he was not making TV money. I'll answer you right now. Certainly, he would have. Without question. Without question. That's not a doubt in my mind. So, at the next SAG meeting, a member accused Ronald of bad faith because he was both a union leader and management. Finally. The connection was made. Wow. With yarn on a cork board. Wait a minute. He's a liar. He denied this, but resigned the next month. You know, who wrote

about this was Wayne Fetterman. I think it was an Atlantic article. Really? And in it, Wayne Fetterman is very adamant that he's not a Republican. I've talked to Wayne Fetterman. Sure you have, David. Sure you're out there, Dave. Wayne bullshit. So, now, most importantly, this was around the time that Ronald started calling Nancy, mommy. Oh, I did sort of know that, but I think I've blocked it out like personal trauma. It's my skin crawl. Mommy. It's the pence. Pence does that too, right? It just makes my skin. Excuse me. Pence is mother. Mother. And Reagan is mommy. Mother is, I think, mommy's horrifying. I find mother's way worse. Because you're getting spankings and stuff. Yes, it's the level of mother. Oh, God. Mother. Mommy. Mommy.

So JFK was running against Nixon and JFK was running partially on creating Medicare. Mm-hmm. Ronald volunteer to make a spoken word record warning that Medicare would lead to the government takeover of, quote, every area of freedom as we have known in this country. There it is. The start. There. That's the beginning when we learned of the end. The record was sent out and played at meetings across the country. Well, can you think of anything worse than a propagandist, Ronald Reagan hour? Like flipping that fucking record over. Hold on. Let's get to the rest. This is real good. What's he going to say? Oh, this is good. Just imagine a time when you would go to a meeting and someone put on a record. Oh, yeah. Right. Or you talk. Yeah, exactly. Or

you go to, like, some hosted dinner. Yeah. But he would go, now we're going to listen to this record. It's him. He can't even be bothered. And it's in talent. You're in LA and you're putting the record on. He's a mile from us right now. That's a good listen, though. Yeah. But JFK won and Medicare became one of the most popular government programs of all time. If not the most popular. I mean, Social Security and Medicare. So, still, Ronald hit the lecture circuit claiming JFK's policies would lead to, quote, social slavery. Well, look, you got a hit record. You got a tour on it. Yeah. I mean, obviously, you got to get out there. Go out there do the hits. You got to come up with new material. You want to hear about Medicare. He's doing it.

He's taking out a watermelon and a hammer. Medicare. Medicare. Do the social slavery line. Yeah. Wow. But he has been proven right. History has shown us that Medicare is absolutely social slavery for sure. People hate it. So, GE cut Ronald loose after MCA was investigated for a conflict of interest by the Justice Department. What? And Ronald was obviously caught up in that. Oh. And he testified and was like, oh, I don't remember. I don't recall. I don't know. Which is going to be a catchphrase for life. Yeah. Also, he had moved too far right for even GE at this point. Wow. That's one of the most evil corporations in history. It's like, we got to get rid of this guy. Honestly,

you're freaking us out. And that's not good. We are genuinely irked by your behavior. And we are, again, the devil. I mean, we're making napalm and you're creeping us out. We're leaving you, Ron. I don't know how hard that is to understand. Yeah. It's not us. It's you. And we say that openly and with all confidence. When he was fired, he said, quote, Robert Kennedy is behind this attack on me. Oh, my God. And he blamed JFK for not being cast in films because his agent was a JFK supporter. Point. What? I mean, this is... But wait in. He had stopped getting cast in films a decade before that. What are you out? Wheels were in motion. This goes all the way to the top. John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy don't like me acting.

Hey, Rob, between you and me, no more Reagan in films. That'll be my main platform. Now, Bonzo, on the other hand, that kid's got legs. And boy, does he know how to use them. Ken Jeffins got Bonzo in a dress in his room. I just love your stuff. I've always been a huge fan. Yeah, whiskey. Do you drink whiskey? Can you smoke? Is that true? Oh, God. So the Reagan had a party planned on the night JFK was assassinated. A guest called to see if it was still on. Nancy, quote, don't be silly. We'll expect to see around 7 p.m. Wow. I mean, that's like 9-11. Yeah. That's like having a dinner party at 9-11. Well, that's the equivalent of, you know, the fake story about a Muslim celebrating. That is the Muslim celebrating a death

or a disaster. That's them. Having a weird... In you, it was probably some weird creepy blood ritual. Yeah. Tough for the mansion. You know. Yeah, like An LaVe was there. A Pentagon in sand. Yeah, something... All right, Nancy, now drain the blood from my penis and we'll drink it. Cutting a monkey's penis and drinking the blood out of it. This is what we do. Sorry, Banjo. Patty, who was 11 at the time, said her parents showed no motion when JFK was murdered. Right. So Ronald finally officially switched from Democrat to Republican. And soon he was giving a half hour speech on NBC for Barry Goldwater. So his speech is so good that Barry Goldwater's like, let's get you on TV. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But after Goldwater lost, two

of Goldwater's guys moved over to Reagan's camp. And then some other rich guys got together and quote became Ronald's kitchen cabinet. Okay. So they're basically unofficial advisors, rich guys, they're asking him to run for governor of California. So Ronald starts giving speeches around the state. In 1964, Ronald called free speech protests at UC Berkeley acts of, quote, anarchy with attempts to destroy the primary purpose of the university. Is this really the first time where someone is using that kind of... It is so trumpy in that language. So I mean, is this... No. There were people before then like... Oh, God. Father Coughlin.

Father Coughlin and his group were very, very, you know... Speaking of these dire terms that are... But yeah, speaking of very Enoch Powell over in England, you know, that rivers of blood speech, there were apocalyptic people that were... That would use that to rile people. Right. Yeah. And but Reagan's just following there. Yeah, yeah. Because it worked.

Well, and it keeps building. And they remember McCarthy is like this. Oh, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, McCarthy, right. For sure. So he warned of, quote... Again, it's time up, Berkeley. He warned of, quote, Orgy's so vile, I cannot describe it to you. But I'll try. In my new album, Ron talks about a blood orgy. Lordgy. Ron Reagan's new hour. They're fucking monkeys.

This was around the time I think he did his last TV movie and it was The Killers and it features a scene where Ron slaps Angie Dickinson and then John Cassavetes punches out Ronald Reagan. Oh, amazing. That was his last. Why can't that be real life? Just own a loop. Yeah.

I just said something left off. Yeah, I had a loop. Play that in a loop. Just Cassavetes and he knocks Reagan down. Like he punches him and knocks him down. Oh, yeah, amazing. Yeah, yeah. So Ronald is out there speaking. He opposes the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act,

middle-aged white working class guys super into it. Oh, sure. Ronald wins the GOP primary. New York Times quote, California Republicans against all councils of common sense insisted upon nominating actor Ronald Reagan for governor. Democratic governor Pat Brown called Ronald a right wing extremist and he ran a TV ad in which he was in a high school class. He's talking to the students and then he tells a young black female student quote,

I'm running against an actor. Do you know who shot Lincoln? Don't you? Oh, Jesus Christ. I mean, that is, that is a mudsling reach. I am not a fan of Ron, but goddamn, dude. I mean, what the hell? Who signs off on that?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's the extremist. Yeah. By the way, I'm out of my fucking mind. Yeah. What class is this? That's amazing.

For his part, Ronald was on the cover of Look Magazine, standing next to a black long jockey statue with large white lips in front of his ranch. A hard choice between these two. Yeah. Ronald won on the landslide. Oh my God. The outgoing first lady gave Nancy a tour of the governor's mansion. And the press tagged along.

Nancy said it was a firetrap and an eyesore. Nice. On the film's tour? Yeah. While the press is there, walking around to the ex-first lady. The ex-first lady says, quote, we loved living in this house. Nancy, quote, oh, I'm sure you did. What?

Kind of awkward. She's awful. Yeah, I mean, but. Exactly. Can't you just, I mean, you're being filmed. Awful people normally know when the camera's on, I guess is what I'm thinking. Nancy's secretary called the Browns to ask them to move out of the mansion several days early so she could fix it up.

God. Okay. They didn't. No. Nancy told Women's Wear Daily, which by the way, I still get. It's so good. I get that in look monthly still. I love that in look.

It's my Bible. Yeah. Anyway. She told Women's Wear Daily that she could be happy anywhere with Ronald if Ronald and the kids were with her. Not just not his original kids. That's all I'm saying. But only eight-year-old Ron was at home.

Patty was at boarding school. Michael and Maureen were with Jane. Nancy also didn't allow them to be publicly seen with their father. It's very easy to love your children when you see them at holidays. Yeah, it is, you know. If I don't see my kids at Two-Bish Vot every year, it's a piece of my heart is gone. The piece of my heart is gone. You're a good dad.

I don't get to wave to them from the front lawn. Hello! Hello! The Regans lasted one month in the governor's mansion. What? Nancy quote, this place is just not safe. It backs up on the American Legion Hall where I swear there are vile orgies every night.

What is going on? Wait, the American Legion Hall? That's where orgies are. Let me tell you about Guadalcanal while I slap you in my dick. Like what the hell does she think goes on in an American Legion Hall? Oh my god. The orgies? You guys want to play Foxhole? Oh god, the scapegoating of orgies is so...

I'm going to bring that back. I'm just concerned about the orgies. Seems like a hot area. Yeah, yeah. A little too much talking about orgies. You know what I mean? A little defensive talking about orgies. The orgies are bad.

Yeah, they do go to orgies a lot. Yeah, it would not shock anyone. No. Mommy? So she told the press that she said to Rania, I can't let my children live there. So friends... They don't.

They're in boarding school. Yeah, they're there. But anyway, right. So friends bought a fancy house and leased it to the Reagan's. Oh my god. And then Nancy complained, quote, wouldn't you think that the state would provide a residence for the governor and his family?

Yeah, Nance, they did. Yeah, they did. So the state paid for the rent. Wow. And their new fancy house. And began building a new huge mansion. What? So relatable.

Yeah. Really? Folks salt of their... Yeah, salt of their... Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Nancy supervised the construction. And a lot of people said it was a bad use of state funds

because there was a recession on. Now as someone who has worked construction, let me tell you, this is the worst person in the world to work for. The person who, while you're painting is like, it doesn't look like it's dry. I get it's wet paint. You could go to your room.

I can just handle this. So California is in serious debt. So Ronald makes cuts. He lays off career employees. He slashed the state's university budget and ended free tuition. He cut 3,700 jobs in mental health and closed hospitals. Wow.

The year after a study revealed the number of mentally ill people entering San Mateo's criminal justice system had doubled. I mean, right there. Yeah. That, I mean, just such an indicator of where we are today. That's it. It's just the pulling of that thread really shows. Like today, that's why.

And that's when Donald Trump is like saying, like, we got to get the homeless off the street. It's like, yeah. Well, there was a way to do that. There used to be a thing we did. Yeah, there used to be a check. So Ronald campaigned on a pledge to quote, clean up the mess at Berkeley.

Remember the protests? Yeah, what year is this though? Is this now 64, 65? Oh God, what year is it? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Look, I don't know. It's 60.

It's late 60s. It's 68. Again, I'm not defending Ronald Reagan, but to that generation, what was happening on campuses must have seemed like the end of the world. Oh yeah. They could not fathom what was going on. Right.

And they were, these people were freaking out. Yeah. That generation shit their pants. Yeah. And so if it's 68, 69, we're talking. We call it Spencer Tracey. Yeah, they shit the tub and puked in it too. They spent their Tracy.

Yeah, they spent their Tracy. That's what that generation did. You've also got, you know, the fucking summer of love and like just the massive stuff that's never, I mean, really, that's probably where a lot of stuff is coming from. So Ronald called the university a quote, haven for communist sympathizers, protesters,

and sex deviants. Orgies. Sure. After riots in Detroit, Newark, and Watts, the Department of Defense came up with Operation Garden Plot. I don't like it. Oh, already. Already.

Any time the, any fucking time a government agency gives something a nice name. No child left behind. Operation Spring Sunshine. Okay. How many were killed in the Spring Sunshine bombings again? Yeah. You're to fertilize the garden with blood.

What? It was a plan to deploy federal forces domestically when it looked like violence might break out. Jesus. Oh boy. Now, their version of violence breaking out was protest by minority people or housing or whatever. Yeah.

How dare they? Ronald was a big part of this at the state level. At a 1969 Operation Garden Plot meeting, Ronald said the operation was in line with the quote, 6,000 year history of man pushing the jungle back, creating a clearing where man can live in peace and go about their business, business with some measure of safety. Wow.

Oh, okay. This is now. That's a dog bullhorn, by the way. Yeah, right, right, right. That's not done. That's what he always says. Oh, we're not done. Of late, the jungle has been creeping in again

a little closer to our boundaries. This is fucked. Yeah, that's not coded. No. Yeah, no, really. Yeah. He'd almost be like, if a president today like tweeted like the word savages, Jewish and people of color,

they were in the, it's weird. Yeah. They'd lose the sort of savages. Yeah. Be a little weird. Anyway. Well, again, but like we said, this is not possible today. We've evolved.

I mean, this is the 60s. Good Lord. We're 50 years down the road. We're fine now. Now, UC Berkeley had a two-point acre plot off campus that they were going to build student housing on, but then they ran out of money. So the site became a pile of debris and rusting cars.

So then locals came and cleaned it up and built a public park naming it the People's Park. Rald did not like this. It was seen as a challenge by leftists on property rights. It's a park. What are you talking about? Like parks, I don't, parks, parks don't have political affiliation. Yeah.

They have jungle gyms. And also you don't have property rights if you're not using the frigging property. Yeah, right. It's just a pile of rubble. Right. That's a good, that's capitalist rubble there. Right.

Bring that rubble back in the park. Rub it up again. That'll teach you. I want rusty cars. He told school administrators to act. The school and park organizers began negotiating a deal when at 4.30 a.m. on May 15, 1969, police arrived with a fencing company.

An eight foot tall fence was put up around the park. Then at noon that day, students held the rally on campus and then they marched peacefully to the park. Cops were guarding it. A fire hydrant was opened and some police were soaked. Then they fired tear gas. Then people threw rocks. Sheriff's deputies were called in by Ronald

and guards from a local jail who were not trained as deputies. That'll be fine. Yeah, yeah. I don't know why you're making a weird face. Yeah. There were 800 officers. Oh my God. And then more protesters arrived.

Reagan's office told police to use whatever methods they wanted. That's a great thing to say. Get creative. Here's my, and please take this in the right direction. Have at it. And please. Have some fun with it. Take some great time.

Really explore the space. Use a protestor's body to beat another protestor up. Go crazy. Cops moved in swinging their nightsticks and then fired tear gas as people ran away. They then began shooting shotguns. Some people were on the roof of a bookstore watching and a sheriff's deputy shot at the roof.

James Rector was hit six times. What the fuck? Jesus. Ronald claimed the people on the roof were throwing rebar and that the pavement couldn't be seen because it was covered in bricks, rocks, and the bodies of sheriff's deputies who had fallen, but that is clearly a lie because there's photographs.

James Rector died. Jesus. Another student was blinded. Reporters saw cops shooting at people who were running away. At least 128 people were sent to the hospital with serious injuries. 30 of them had been shot. A doctor at the hospital quote, the indiscriminate use of shotguns was sheer insanity.

That's so crazy. When asked why the police use such force, Ronald answered quote, it is very naive to assume that you should send anyone into that kind of conflict with the fly swatter. Conflict. I mean, that is. He made the conflict.

That really is what gets so frustrating. They're walking to the park. Yeah, you're right. The creation of the conflict to complain about the conflict and overreact to the conflict. And then blame the people who aren't the problem. That's a very fascist piece of work. That is absolutely the goddamn brown shirts

going to Union and Communist, and then starting trouble. And then when they fight back like, see how violently we had to wipe them out. What could we do? Oh my God, this is terrible. Yeah, it's putting your finger in front of someone's face until they push it away.

And then you're like, he physically touched me. Physically touched. I have to destroy him. So Ronald declared a state of emergency and sent in the National Guard. On May 20th, National Guard helicopters flew over the Berkeley campus spraying tear gas.

What? Wow. Wind blew it into a hospital and elementary schools. I mean, oh, God. Come on. Yeah, you know what? You guys. You know what, you guys.

Ah, ah, ah. Look, it's hard to be governor. Yeah, but also he's like sending in the National Guard to a problem. Like the police were shooting people. The National, like the people need the National Guard. This is like a day later. So now it's just people on campus.

He's just. Yeah, exactly. And in hospitals and schools. People just walking to class and again tear gas. Ronald would later concede this may have been a quote tactical mistake. Oh man, you know. That's why I want to bomb the wind.

Show that thing. On May 22nd, two days later, 500 people arrested. Many of them were not even protesters. They were jailed and beaten. A year later, Ronald stuck by his decision, quote, if it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement. Good Lord.

Appeasement. It's very violent rhetoric. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, Jesus. Oh, it's insane. Yeah. He was reelected in 1970 with 53% of the vote. Yeah.

Wow. After that. After all that. Yeah. Cooper, like that's our guy. Who's he running again? He killed someone. Like his orders killed someone.

Right. Who was standing on a roof watching and that's it. Yeah. So he got 53% of the vote. His priority was welfare reform. He spoke about lady welfare cheats and said his staff, quote, discovered thousands of people who were receiving welfare checks at the same time they were gainfully employed.

And one couple earned more than $100,000 between them. There was absolutely no proof of any of these statements. Ronald was known to accept whatever the last person he spoke to told him. Oh, boy. If his staff gave. A fun trick to have. We're super power.

It's not a popular X. I can repeat whatever bullshit I just heard. Let's go. If his staff would come in to give both sides of an argument, he would accept the first thing he heard and say that was the way to go. That's it. Yeah. So the staff began working everything out before they would bring it to him.

Right. In 1971, the day after the UN voted to recognize the People's Republic of China, Ronald called Nixon invented about the delegates who voted against the U.S. quote, last night I tell you to watch that thing on television as I did to see those those monkeys from those African countries. Damn them. They're still uncomfortable wearing shoes and Nixon laughed hard up roriously. There's audio of it.

Right. And it's just it's recent they found that very recently they just uncovered it. Yeah. Right. That's fun. There you go. Just a couple of presidents chewing the fat. You know what?

Look, they should they should do that as a cranky anchors. Right. Right. Right. Get the puppets. I'd be great. Yeah. Yeah.

When Watergate broke, Ronald said it was not criminal, just illegal. There it is. There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go.

There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. There it is.

Gleam in the cube. Gleam in the cube. Gleam in the cube. Gleam in the cube. As evidence came out, people bailed on Nixon. But Ronald hung in there, saying they were, quote, not criminals at heart. At heart.

Wow. At heart. What I mean. Amazing. Amazing. Imagine having that ability. Imagine having that ability. Fantastic.

His heart is good. I'm the wizard. He didn't run for governor again. The mansion they built was just being finished when he left office. Turn it into a park. Turn it into a park. Yeah. Yeah.

Turn it into a park. The new governor, Jay Brown, refused to limit it, calling it, quote, garish, expensive Taj Mahal. Brown instead lived in a two-bedroom apartment. California eventually sold the mansion in 1984 without a governor ever living there. Wow. They just fixed up the old mansion,

the one that she hated. Right, exactly, yeah. Ronald's cabinet wanted him to run for president. He didn't want to. He was now making good money with a radio job and writing a column. Nancy wanted him to run. She consulted three astrologers.

All said, 1976 was not the right year, but she still pushed him to run, and he agreed. He went with what is called the Southern Strategy, appealing to racism, coded language. He launched his campaign with a speech emphasizing states' rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers had been murdered in 1964. Again, the most uncoded coded language you could use.

Yeah. There, he spoke of dismantling the Civil Rights Commission, opposing affirmative action and cutting federal ties to cities with social programs that were seen as a benefit to black people, like subsidized housing. This is when he first invented the woman on welfare in Chicago, who has 80 names, 30 addresses, from episode 260, something, the welfare queen.

Right, right. Oh, Jesus. All made up, he made up a big thing about this woman, and she turns out she wasn't real. Ronald sometimes got his knowledge from letters that people sent him. That's not good. No, not at all.

What? Did he just hold it up to his head without opening it? He was... Mommy. Sis Boombah. He was super into letters, writing and getting them. Oh, boy. Yay, letters.

Yeah, I mean, really, like, come on. I had the letters here, I'm the president. Ooh, the postman, the postman, mommy. Wee. Wee. One person wrote and said there was more oil in Alaska than Saudi Arabia, so Ronald put it in a speech. Great, there you go, perfect.

Oh, why didn't we know more about it? We could have sent him the craziness. Oh, my God, just to see him say it. Ah, oh, my God, that would have been such a pleasure. Exactly. Just convincing. You know there's a secret colony on the moon ruled by Vincent Price.

The best waters in volcanoes. Yeah. Another person wrote about disposing of nuclear waste by turning it into golf ball-sized objects and then launching them into the ocean. Perfect, yeah, perfect. Why not? Ronald's campaign manager convinced him to, quote,

save that one for later. Ronald, I think the issue is that one's too good, so let's hold onto that one for a little while. Let's sit on that one. Ooh. Yeah, let's... Who wouldn't you make the run? Ronald was also massively influenced by right-wing magazines.

An article in the ultra-conservative magazine Human Events led Ronald to say on the radio that Henry Kissinger was behind a secret plan to give away the Panama Canal, which could lead to Americans having their mail monitored by Panama's intelligence agency. OK, wait, lots happening. There's so much done back there. So somehow...

Henry Kissinger, Ford's secretary of state. I know, but somehow our mail goes through the Panama Canal? That's right. Of course, it's all mail goes on a boat through the Panama Canal. What are you, do you know how mail works? I went to public school. Post office, Panama. We still haven't figured that out.

We take all of our mail on the East Coast, we ship it around through Panama. Right, right, and so, I'll be honest, it seems like an unnecessary stuff. That's a little weird. We can cut that one. And of course, he's paranoid about what's happening to the mail.

He's like, where are my fact letters? The Panamanians will put crazy shit in there. Nancy made sure he got rest while he was campaigning. Always he had an afternoon nap. He must have looked adorable. Yeah, sure. She just... Ralph Hercweens.

Oil and Alaska. Sports scores start coming out, oh boy. And his schedule had to be approved by an astrologer. Oh boy. I don't think he should have lunch then. Not with Mercury in retrograde, he will. Look at Taurus. Does he eat ham?

He needs to stop. Look at Taurus. So Ford got the nomination, but Ronald shifted voters to the right. He ran again in 1979. But he almost took the nomination away from Ford. There was a huge mess, yeah. Yeah, it was close.

So on number four, 1979, Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. Reagan became the GOP candidate and offered the VP slot to George H.W. Bush. Bush had campaigned in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, and gun control. But he tossed it all aside and endorsed Reagan's platform.

Wow. Hey, so check it out. Everything I believe in is out the window. I think my fingers crossed. You know who was also very much for gun control back in the 60s in California was Ronald Reagan because the Black Panthers really enjoyed open carry. And then he was, oh, you know, we need gun control.

Right, that's right. Yeah. That's how you get it done. I took that out, but yeah. All right, sorry. That's all right. There's just so much to put in. I know, it's just a gallery of horrors.

So Bush and Reagan's campaign slogan, let's make America great again. Wait, was it? Oh my god. Yeah. That's fine. I was so not aware of politics back. I was only 11.

Let's make America great again. Fantastic. The country was in bad shape. High inflation, high unemployment, an energy crisis, and the hostage situation. Ronald ran the exact same campaign as 76. Even Nancy gave anti-bussing speeches. He wanted to slash taxes and opposed unemployment,

insurance, or has he called it, quote, vacation money for the lazy? That's an asshole. She's an old man potter. Yeah. What are they supposed to do? I mean, they would be better if they were just shooting people and taking stuff.

Those are like, this is the only country that shits on vacations so hard. Like every other nation in the world is like, what do you need? A month of golf right here, you know? And Americans are like, you got a day. Yeah, how dare you not grind 24 hours? Come on.

That's how you enjoy life. Hear those machines creeping over? So Ronald won 44 states. In December, it was reported Nancy didn't understand why the Carter's wouldn't move out of the White House early, so she could get started on redecorating. Well, to be fair, she knows what she's doing.

During the transition, word came that Ronald seemed uninterested. A Washington Post headline on December 18, 1979, quote, Reagan on the sidelines, he often seems remote from transition. Long time aide Ed Meese countered that Ronald, quote, is really running things. Wow. Well, there you go.

Well, there you go. Very validating. Thank you so much. No, he's actually smart. Nice. Damn, he got me. He does stuff. Oh, what a shocker.

On January 29, 1991, Ronald was inaugurated. Carter hadn't slept in 48 hours because his administration was negotiating for four days straight to get the hostages out. He agreed to lift some sanctions against Iran if the hostages were returned. As Ronald began his address, the hostages were freed. In his speech, Ronald told a story from the movie

Marine Raiders as if it were real. Oh, that's kind of fun. Fantastic. Who can forget when that giant ape rampaged through Manhattan in 1933? We still recovered. Those brave, bi-plane fighters brought him down. But in the end, it was Beauty Killed the Beast.

That's why I'm introducing the Kong Amendment. Why didn't he confuse more exciting movies? Oh my god. King Kong was our greatest threat back then, and we got rid of him. Everyone talks about saving the environment, but there are black lagoons filled with gill men who want to steal our female swimmers.

We have to stop the spiders from Mars. Now is the time for Mothra. Mothra. He also talked about a soldier who had died in World War I who was buried in Arlington. But the press looked into it, and there was no soldier buried by that name in Arlington. The New York Times confronted the White House

who said Ronald didn't mean to imply the soldier was buried in Arlington. There you go. That's cleaned up. Any more questions? Yeah, there you go. Yeah, we couldn't find a private Seymour Butts in Arlington. He misspoke.

Someone wrote that in a letter. That was in a letter he got. On Inauguration Day, Ronald visited Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill. O'Neill showed him a desk that had been President Grover Cleveland's. Ronald looked at it and said he played Grover Cleveland in a movie.

And O'Neill then told Ronald he had actually played Grover Cleveland Alexander, the baseball player, not the president. Oh, my god. What's the recall? What? That's not good news. And that's why Tip spent the next eight years hammered.

Honestly, that moment for Tip must have been a very tipping point. He took his two-year chip out, tossed it in the Potomac. He just started going. I mean, literally, as I was doing research. I'll be in the tub. The best, in all the research, the best quotes. And I take them out because there are so many.

But it's just Tip O'Neill going, he's a fucking idiot. Like, just over and over. I played Grover Cleveland. There's a long pause before you react there, where you're like, how do I unpack this? So instead of Chief of Staff, Ronald had what was called the Troika. Jim Baker, Ed Meese, and Mike Dever ran it together.

Three just fantastically. Wonderful human beings. Fantastically moral upright men. What if we got three psychopaths? So Dever got along great with Nancy. They shared interests. And he got into astrology. Alexander Haig was appointed Secretary of State.

William Clark, who worked for Reagan in California, was appointed Under Secretary of State. At his hearing, he was asked if he was familiar with the struggles of the British Labor Party. Said he was not. Did he know which European nations don't want US nuclear weapons on their soil? He didn't know.

Could he name the prime minister of South Africa? Quote, I cannot, sir. Prime Minister of Zimbabwe? Nope, on and on. This should comfortably hang in there with those punches. Nope, also nothing. Our current president? No.

Drone a blank. Not sure. The US had a $60 billion deficit. The Ronald announced a federal hiring freeze, halted pending regulations, including airbags and cars and energy standards for new buildings. And he said he wanted a 10% income tax reduction for each year in 81, 82, and 83.

To make up for that, he would cut federal employee benefits, food stamps, child nutrition programs, unemployment insurance, welfare benefits, and money for art, humanities, and sciences. 83 federal programs were gutted. It only saved $41 billion. And then he gave tax cuts to the oil industry and savings and loans, and military spending

went up by $28 billion. Here we go. And we're off. And we're off. This was supply-side economics. Everyone called it Reaganomics, or Trickle Down Economics, or as George Bush had called it in the campaign Voodoo Economics, because it was absolute bullshit.

It has literally never worked, ever. And they still bring it up. They still bring it up. They still call it Trickle Down. They've gotten pretty good at renaming bullshit. It's kind of stopped Trickle Down. Amazing. The House was controlled by Democrats,

so they pushed back on the tax cuts. On the day that Ronald's government declared catch-up, would now be counted as a vegetable in school lunches to save money. Catch-up and salt. What a great time. Yeah. That's like when it's like America's coming out party.

Catch-ups are fucking vegetable. Yeah. On the same day, it was announced that Nancy spent over $200,000 on New China. Wow. People weren't happy. An ex-aid explained, quote, it would be a mistake to say per se that catch-up was classified as a vegetable.

Catch-up in combination with other things is classified as a vegetable. Like your fries. When asked what those things were, quote, french fries or hamburgers. Oh my god. Yeah. What?

That's amazing. Well, we really are. Tatas and tomatoes. There you go. Great nation. God. Tatas and tomatoes. It's a vegetable if it's with meat.

Yeah. Sawdust is a grain. Not James Watt, who was Secretary of the Interior, was a bit religious. At a hearing, he asked if natural resources must be preserved for future generations. And he said yes. OK.

But, quote, I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns. Which, by the way, that our current guy, Mike Pompeo, is saying we will fight. And I ran until the rapture. No. That he says that, and he said that multiple times, we will fight until the rapture.

OK. Well, that's comforting. So there you go. In December of 1980. What's going to be like that moment where it's all done? I just hope there's enough oxygen for us to breathe in that nothing is happening when it's all said and done to it.

We can at least look at the people who've been calling this moment. Just be like, it's like you, like the last friend. You're an idiot. Die together. In December of 1984, nuns were raped and executed in El Salvador. This was just one of many atrocities

committed by the government-backed death squads against leftists. But due to the fight against communism, Ronald Kip funding the government of El Salvador. One of his top foreign policy advisors, Jean Kirkpatrick, said, quote, they were not just nuns, they were political activists. I mean, what the fuck?

Holy shit. And they also killed a fucking priest, right, Romero? Yeah, I mean, the fact that you, like, that doesn't mean anything. They were murdered and raped. That doesn't mean anything. It has no, yeah. Secretary of State, Alexander Hague,

told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that, quote, perhaps the vehicle the nuns were riding in may have tried to run a roadblock or may have accidentally been perceived to have been doing so, and there may have been exchange of gunfire. Wait a minute, exchange. So they're saying the gun, the nuns were shooting?

Nuns with guns on the pitch. That's what he said. He's saying that the nuns might have been armed. They were sexually assaulted. Yeah, exactly. So there's, like, even if you were to be like, okay, they were killed, why is there that middle stuff? Jesus Christ.

Yeah. In a gun battle. The fucking lack of soul you have to have. I mean, really, like, I would never say stop talking because you want to hear the darkness inside of these people. But how is someone not just like, dude, just shut up. And also, again, not that they're fucking evil people,

but not only are they saying the shit you're saying they're saying, they then went and got eight hours sleep. That's right, right. I've lost nights of sleep because I thought that, oh, I think I may have lied to that person. Yeah, he said the wrong thing. Or I offended him. Exactly.

Or I promised something and now I can't deliver it and I'm going to let someone down. And these people are excusing the rape of nuns and then just went right to bed. Like the three stooges with the like, whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop. Yeah, just like, nun comfortably. God damn.

Sociopaths, yeah. Yeah, mask insanity. Hague then told the US ambassador to send a cable stating the military was making progress investigating the murders. And the ambassador refused, writing, quote, I will have no part of a coverup. He was soon removed.

Fortunately, according to a CBS poll, on 25% of Americans knew El Salvador was in Central America. Oh, they're ketchup's a vegetable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. March 30th, 18, 1981. As Ronald Reagan left the DC Hilton, he was shot by 26-year-old John Hinkley, Jr., who was super into Jodie Foster.

He left the note in his hotel room, quote, Jodie, I'm asking you to please look into your heart and at least give me the chance with this historical deed to gain your respect and love. Jesus Christ. She didn't go for it. She didn't. That didn't work?

No. I remember them being married. Try to kill yourself. Right, yeah, that's what you do. A DC police officer, a secret service agent, and press secretary James Brady were also shot. Brady was shot in the head. A shot glanced off the bulletproof panel of the car,

pancaked, and hit the president under the arm, then lodged in his lung just one inch from his heart. There was a real possibility he would die, and the White House went into turmoil. George Bush was on a plane heading to Texas, and he was told to return. Secretary of State Alexander Hegg then declared himself in charge.

Oh, wow, watch. He just rolled in, it was like, it's me? He goes out, this, go ahead. Quote, the helm is right here, and that means right in this chair for now, constitutionally, until the vice president gets here. But he was wrong, because the speaker of the house was supposed to take over.

Like every kid, children, now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a schoolhouse rock song about it, I think. Jesus Christ. So Hegg went into the press room and was asked who was in charge. Quote, constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president,

and secretary of state in that order. And should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president, and in close touch with him. If anything came up, I would check with him, of course. So he is, is he saying he's higher than the vice president?

No, he's saying right now he's in charge. Because he's in the air. Because he's in the air. Okay, I wasn't sure if he was like, it's also because he's not here, it's kind of me forever. Maybe this is another dollop. But also, wasn't John, weren't John Hinckley's parents like either friends of the bushes or front, like?

No, I don't know. There was a more of a, he wasn't just some random weirdo. He was connected to them socially or something. It was some, yeah, it was some weirdness. That's gonna be an awkward cocktail party after all. So, my son, let me just start with. He was always weird.

Oh boy, he is crazy. He doesn't get women. Hang on, do we have violent video games yet? I was gonna, damn it, sorry. That's another 10 years? Yeah, oh boy. So, Jody, how did you and John meet? In his defense, Candle Shoot is a great movie.

That was so good. So, after this, the secretary, the defense secretary confronted Hague and Hague said, quote, look, you better go home and read your constitution, buddy. That's the way it is. What? That's wrong.

How do you get to the podium without someone stopping you? I know, and I also love that it's like an old 1940, hey, you better go read your constitution, buddy. And he's wrong. He's going so freaking wrong, it's the best. Why don't you go read your constitution? Put your constitution on your pillow, see if it gets in there throughout Moses.

All of Ronald's kids, all of Ronald's kids rushes DC. Paddy and Ron were allowed to see him immediately. Nancy told Maureen and Michael he was too weak to see them. Oh, Jesus, of course. You know what, fucking play on, player. Don't you ever stop, Nancy. He left the hospital in two weeks and his ratings, his approval rating shot up to 68%.

He asked for major cuts to Social Security and the Senate voted against 96 to nothing. Okay. Ronald then went on TV and asked everyone to call their congressman and demand tax cuts and people did. Congress finally gave in. He got 25% tax cuts over three years.

This was the biggest reduction in US taxes in the past 70 years. Great. When he signed the tax cuts. Way to go, Hinkley. Yeah, good work. Totally, yeah. When he signed the tax cuts, he was in the middle

of a 28 day vacation at his California ranch. His dog walked by and a reporter asked what the dog's name was. Oh no. Ronald quote, Lassie. Millie, Millie, Millie's her name. Oh, oh. Lassie, is something wrong with the president girl?

What's going on, Lassie? Is the president's mind leaving him, Lassie? What's going on? I mean, this is fucking 81. That's good. Yeah, this wasn't that, well. No, this is, no, this is an 87. Yeah.

The official story was like, what was the last few months? No. No, yeah. Right. In June, Ronald was at a reception for mayors. He walked up to a black mayor and said, quote, how are you, Mr. Mayor? I'm glad to meet you.

How are things in your city? He was not a mayor. He was Samuel Pierce, Ronald's only black cabinet member. Oh, Jesus Christ, Ronald. Come on, dude. Okay. Wow. Wow.

Oh. In 1981, there was a strange. You probably just pretend you're the mayor, it's so awkward. That's pretty good, crime's down. It's fine, I'm not your housing secretary at all. Yeah, over in Flappyville. If Flappyville's doing good, is it?

I know you guys had some trouble. Oh, God bless Flappyville. Well, I gotta come back there. I love the cotton candy pool. I'm a jet plane, I'm gonna fly out of the room now. Watch me. Yeah. In 1981, there was a strange disease

affecting mostly gay men. On July 3rd, 1981, the New York Times published an article about it. The media started calling it Gay-Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or GRIDs for short. Also the gay plague and the gay cancer. The White House made no mention of it.

The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, PATCO, was threatening to go on strike. They were one of the few unions who had backed Ronald in the election because many were veterans. Ronald had told the union head, quote, if I am elected president, I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air traffic controllers

with the most modern equipment available and to adjust staff levels. He did absolutely none of that. And the membership authorized a strike. Ronald said public employees couldn't go on strike, but public employees had struck in the past. And it took 21 weeks to be trained to be an air traffic controller.

So they thought this gave them power. And at union meetings would say stuff like, quote, what are they gonna do, fire us all? Yeah. August 31st, the union of 13,000 members struck. Ronald declared them in violation of the law and gave them 48 hours to return to work. A judge backed him and ordered PATCO

to pay $100,000 for each hour they were striking. 1300 went back to work, the rest were fired and banned from federal employment for life. For life? For life. That's just... Sorry, Clinton reversed it,

but some of the union officials were arrested. Wow. With military controllers... That's like the Harlan County USA shit. Yeah. And this literally like, Matawan coal miner strike shit. Yeah. Oh my God.

Yeah. Anyway. And okay, keep going. With military controllers and supervisors, the FAA operated at 70% of normal. The government trained new controllers. PATCO had some demands like taking flights to get familiar with the pilot's landing experience

and Ronald used these, saying there were unnecessary perks to get the public on his side. Before it had been not acceptable to replace workers with scabs, but now that was over. Firing workers was legitimized as a response to labor disputes,

and this became a huge blow to labor forever. Yeah. I mean, really, that is kind of like... We've never really recovered from that, right? Because it was like the tipping point where it was now acceptable to do that. Yeah. There were a lot of leaks to the press

from the White House. Ronald's budget director was quoted in Atlantic Monthly articles saying, quote, none of us really understand what's going on with these numbers. And that supplied side economics was, quote, a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate. He said it out loud to Atlantic Monthly.

I mean, how are they... He said it out loud. Christ. Out. Wow. Yeah. I mean... Ronald Vito had a stopgap spending bill

and shut down the federal government for the first time in history. Tip O'Neill said, quote, he knows less about the budget than any president in my lifetime. He came and carried on a conversation about the budget. It's an absolute and utter disgrace.

Glug, glug. Yeah. Yeah. My face isn't red enough. Then he would eat nine pizzas. Yeah. Anyway, I broke my record for pizza eating. Any questions on that?

Eight, nine pies. And what would become a repeating pattern? Ronald, at a fundraiser, said a blind man had written him a letter saying, if cutting off his pension would help the country, he was for it. Ronald said the letter was written in braille. He gave absolutely no proof of this letter.

He would talk about letters like this for the rest of his presidency and never give any proof. I mean... Is there braille paper? I mean, can you hand... I think you can write. I bet you can.

You could braille, you do it in the little circles. It almost like a bore, you do it with a little punch thing. Right, okay, so... So you could have done it, but then... Awesome. But then who read it? Who read it?

It's just, it's a lot of... There's a lot going on there. A lot of leaps. Too many leaps. A blind man with no hands who was allergic to paper wrote me a letter saying... So I wrote him back. Just by punching a pen into it,

I hope it made sense. Looked like his. Might have been his. Now there was also too much cheese. There's not the first president to say this. I remember those dark years. Yeah, we lost to my uncle. We need a hero.

My uncle died in the Cheddar War. In the Cheddar surplus. A huge wheel of Edam crushed him. Then we need macaroni now more than ever. Okay. During the 70s, dairy prices had shot up and the government intervened and prices plummeted. So Carter subsidized the dairy industry,

which led to a surplus in dairy and cheese. Okay. Eventually, there were 500 million pounds of cheese stored in hundreds of warehouses in 35 states. Okay. What? Okay. Oh my God.

And Ronald had no idea what to do with it. I can't imagine having this issue. Cheese crisis. It's the only thing that's keeping me up. I can't sleep cheese gates. So it's processed American cheese designed to last a long time. This became public when the agricultural secretary

came to a White House event with a five pound block of green molding cheese. He showed it to the press and said, quote, it's moldy, it's deteriorating. We can't find a market for it. We can't sell it. We're looking to try to give it away somehow. The public became very upset

because Ronald ran on cutting welfare, but he was hoarding cheese. I mean, we like, what bothers us? And what like, what are our instincts? We are bonded by the dumbest. Yeah. Like we don't know anything. We'll call Congress people for tax cuts

that will make our lives worse. Well, we're kicking mental patients out of hospitals to die in the street. Where'd my cheese? Enough bullshit. Where's hegum to no cheese? Where should we want to see pictures of the cheese house? We're not idiots.

Storm the cheese house. We got a case of de-assortage. Open these doors. All right, boys, start munching. Send out your cheese, motherfuckers. So, fucking idiot. So Ronald went on TV and gave a speech about cheese, quote. I mean, imagine, I can't imagine watching the president.

Hello, somber night in the White House. Qua, at a time when American families are under increasing financial pressure, their government cannot sit by and watch millions of pounds of food turn to waste. The temporary emergency food assistant program was created and it handed out blocks of cheese to elderly, low income people and aid organizations.

People lined up to get their cheese. At the end of 1981, Ronald Reagan's approval rating was at 49%. Even after the cheese giveaway? Yeah, I mean, honestly. What does he have to do? I know, and I like the way that it's like, I mean, it's a problem and so you're like, I'll just give away all the cheese to the old people.

This is not, what's happening in America right now? Well, we found a home. Yeah. That's the end of our first half. Oh my God, what a wonderful place to end. That's the end. It would be amazing if it ended there, but guys, hang on. I think there's a second part.

Well, the cool thing is the second part is work. It's really crazy. Oh God. Well, with that, I'm gonna use the restroom and get a beverage. All right. So for this episode, the clothes have no emperor by Paul Slansky,

an American, a Reagan American journey by Bob Spitz, an anti-Regan, the unauthorized biography by a kiddie Kelly American scandal, the podcast, Iran Contra series, Behind the Bastards podcast, Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Behind the Bastards is a good podcast, by the way. Also, East Bay Yesterday podcast, it takes a bloodbath to get it over with.

My history can beat up your politics podcast, a dozen Ronald Reagan series, the presidential podcast, Ronald Reagan, Miss and Truths, and the 43 presidents, what they said to and about each other by Neo-James Pruitt August, and then a ton of just websites, I mean, like 60 or something.

So that'll all be up on the sources page. Wow.