Ronald Reagan has been out of office 35 years and dead for 20, yet he still scares the daylights out of Hollywood liberals and modern-day leftists. He always will.
That’s particularly true in these terrifying days which socialists and leftist Democrats are facing, as Donald Trump’s shadow grows larger and larger, eclipsing the plasticized, empty-suited Kamala Harris and daffy Tim Walz, as they careen toward the November 5th presidential election that may, if Trump wins, stop the Democrat plan to destroy America as we know it.
The big screen presentation of ”Reagan” starring Dennis Quaid in the title role, was the last thing that Democrats wanted to see land on the public square this fall in the middle of election season, and indeed with their co-conspirators in Hollywood, film finance, movie distribution and Big Tech, they almost succeeded in scuttling it.
The threat was clear: in a time when American pop culture has so promoted namby-pamby men and impotent, effeminate leadership, the last thing the left needed was a reminder of what real presidential leadership was like, and who most exemplifies it in the 2024 presidential race.
Like any now mythic figure, it’s no doubt true that some Republicans over idealize the Reagan years with the slightly distorted retrospect afforded by only the most rose-colored of glasses. And yet even taken with copious grains of salt, there is no denying that Reagan, compared to leaders in both parties since, earned and achieved nearly superhero status in a world and a time that demanded nothing less than superheroes.
Reagan’s very mystique is antithetical to the bloodline of the American left which now permeates the Democrat Party and liberal popular culture. Strong presidential leadership – the idea of using leverage and influence to back up firm talk, to demand bootstrap accountability of the citizenry and confront international enemies eye to eye, is seen as far too masculine an approach by those who believe Taylor Swift and Dylan Mulvaney set the modern day political guidelines for a civilized world.
The problem of course is that neither domestic economics nor our nation’s enemies are, or will ever be, civilized.
The Reagan movie was shunned by the Hollywood studios; Facebook cut its ad viewership on Zuckerberg’s platform; biscuit-dough fingered critics attacked it for its Neanderthal retelling of Reagan’s truly American story; some New York theaters refused to screen the film. Many across the country that did, restricted it to early matinees or limited early evening showings when most folks are just out of work.
Indeed, no one on the left wanted you to see this movie.
It was an outright attempt to censor the story of one of the most successful presidents in American history – the man who thwarted and eventually led the disintegration of the evil Soviet Empire; who instigated the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and reunited Germany; who proved the benefits of privatization and of restricting government meddling to unleash the creativity and imagination of the American mind. He rebuilt American military might after the decay that followed the Vietnam defeat; he checked the power of judicial activism to prompt courts to follow federal and state constitutions as opposed to legislating from the courtroom.
After Iran made hostages of all Americans by holding 52 embassy personnel for 444 days as Jimmy Carter dithered, Reagan brought back dignity to the presidency. Iran released those hostages literally minutes after Regan took office.
The feminization of American culture has brought most of its institutions to abhor the kind of masculine strength exhibited by Reagan and the success it generated, the same way it has inspired a core-of-being hatred among many for Donald Trump. Indeed, Trump is a grotesque, almost cartoon version of the 40th president – but he’s as close as we’re going to get in this election.
But leftists hate Trump for the same reasons they hate Reagan and even the Reagan movie – they simply hate the idea of American success.
If you remember Reagan, you should go see the movie for the walk through history it provides. If you don’t remember Reagan, you should go see it for an illustration of what real presidential leadership looks like. Then you should vote for the next closest thing.
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
