April 27, 1987: Context
Ronald Reagan
The Challenges of Assessing Presidential Candidates’ Character
Evangelicals in 1976 wanted to vote for the candidate with the most integrity, but could not agree who that was.
The Author’s Corner with Andrew E. Busch
Andrew E. Busch is Associate Director of the Institute of American Civics at the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee. This interview is based on his new book, Ronald Reagan and the Firing […]
Trumpism is straight out of the 1980s
Maybe when Trump says “Make America Great Again” he has the 1980s in mind. Here is a taste of Michael Grasso’s Jacobin piece, “Donald Trump and the ’80s Aesthetic“: When Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea stood onstage at the Republican National […]
J.D. Vance and the end of “Reagan’s view of America’s role in the world”
This picture is revealing. Two “America First” populists shaking hands while a classic Reagan Republican watches them and claps from a distance. Here is The Washington Post‘s editorial board: Former president Donald Trump’s selection of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) as his running […]
Biden jokes about his age and memory
Remember this: And today Joe Biden offered this: I love it! It seems like this is the best way for Biden to address the “age” issue in the wake of the recent special counsel’s report on classified documents.
Episode 121: “Reagan’s Evangelical Vision for America”
How did Ronald Reagan use the media to shape his evangelical vision for America, a vision rooted in political freedom, economic freedom, and religious freedom that is still with us today and continues to define the discourse of both of […]
Conquering the wilderness, building a city on a hill, and tonight’s GOP debate
Historian Peter Mancall will be looking for references to the Puritans in tonight’s GOP presidential primary debate. He found several in the first debate. Here is a taste of his piece at Zocalo Public Square: The second Republican debate will […]
Tim Scott to autoworkers: “You strike, you’re fired”
Tim Scott is trying to invoke the ghost of Ronald Reagan. But the United Auto Workers are having none of it. Here is Daniel Boguslaw at Intercept: AFTER INVOKING THE legacy of Ronald Reagan to suggest that striking United Auto Workers members should […]
Has the GOP rejected Reaganomics?
Check out David Leonardt’s interesting piece at The New York Times: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has spent the last few months trying to boost Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign. It has called his legislative record “as impressive as […]
The Author’s Corner with Diane Winston
Diane Winston is Associate Professor of Journalism and Knight Center Chair in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California, Annenberg. This interview is based on her new book, Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical […]
Mike Pence: “Conservatives can either be for politically motivated government intervention in the private sector, or we can be against it.”
As the populist candidates for president attack woke corporations, Pence is trying to shore-up his lane as the Ronald Reagan candidate. Today he turned to the libertarian Reason magazine to defend free markets. Here is a taste of his piece […]
The men who may have sabotaged Jimmy Carter’s re-election
In 1980 former Texas governor and presidential candidate John B. Connally, and former Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes, traveled to Middle Eastern capitals urging the region’s leaders to tell Iran not to release the American hostages until after that year’s […]
Court evangelical James Robison: Trump acted “like a little elementary schoolchild”
The Washington Post is covering a speech by the seventy-nine-year-old James Robison at the November 16 meeting of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers. Read the Post piece here. According to its website, the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) […]
The future of Trumpism
William Kristol believes Trumpism will be around for a long time. Here is a taste of his piece today at The Bulwark: We are now six years into the Trump era and one clearly sees—in the donor and media ecosystems, […]
The bridge from Reaganism to Trumpism
Here is a taste of Jonathan Chait’s New York Magazine piece, “New Gingrich Invented Donald Trump’s Lock-Them-Up Politics”: A popular belief, especially among political centrists, holds that Trump is the antithesis of the old Republican ethos. On one side of […]
Is Biden’s presidency doomed? Some historical perspective.
Princeton’s Julian Zelizer offers some historical context at CNN: Those who are worried should find some solace in the fact that contemporary presidents have been able to come back from difficult moments like these. Challenging first terms don’t inevitably put […]
Should Joe Biden run again?
Over at The New York Times, Bret Stephens thinks Biden will be too old (86 at the end of his second term) to serve a second term. I really don’t have a strong opinion about this, but I do hope […]
Episode 26: “Evangelicals Remember Ronald Reagan”
Former president Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004. Evangelicals were eager to reflect on the role he played in the rise of the Christian Right. Episode 26: “Evangelicals Remember Ronald Reagan” dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level […]
Paul Ryan: “If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality…then we’re not going anywhere.”
Tonight the former Speaker of the House will give a speech at the Reagan Library in California. John McCormick of The Wall Street Journal reports: “Once again, we conservatives find ourselves at a crossroads,” Mr. Ryan will say, according to […]