Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign very deliberately echoed the one that Ronald Reagan ran in 1980.
“Peace through strength” and “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” are the two Reagan slogans that are best remembered today.
- Less well known is that in 1980, Reagan used the slogan “Make America great again,” including in his convention acceptance speech.
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The Reagan Show, a new archive-based documentary, offers compelling fly-on-the-wall insights into the staging of President Reagan’s performances on screen – and reveals the origins of Trumpism
How to Win the New Cold War
To Compete With China, Trump Should Learn From Reagan
Niall Ferguson
January/February 2025 Published on January 7, 2025
"Today, the United States finds itself in at least the sixth year of a second cold war, this time with China, a confrontation that has become even more dangerous under the Biden administration. In his first term, Trump recognized the American need to contain China’s rise and convinced Washington policy elites, despite their initial skepticism, that this required both a trade war and a tech war." 1/8
"In his second term, he should once again begin by piling on the pressure with a fresh show of American strength. But this should not be an end in itself. His ultimate goal ought to be like Reagan’s: to get to a deal with Washington’s principal adversary that reduces the nightmarish risk of World War III—a risk inherent in a cold war between two nuclear-armed superpowers."foreignaffairs.com/united-states/…2/8
"Reagan opened with strength. He boldly reasserted the American rejection of communism as an ideology and Soviet expansionism as a strategy. At the same time, he initiated a major increase in defense spending that sought to exploit U.S. technological superiority." 3/8
"When the right time came, however, he pivoted to a series of summit meetings with Gorbachev that ultimately produced stunning breakthroughs in both disarmament and European security." 4/8
"There are, of course, major differences between Trump and Reagan. ... Nevertheless, the resemblances between Trump and Reagan—and their times—are numerous and significant. It is easy to forget, for example, how widely Reagan was feared at that time by liberals at home and abroad, as well as by Washington’s adversaries." 5/8
"It would make sense, as it did in the 1980s, for the two superpowers to pursue disarmament. The current nuclear arms race is a lopsided one in which Washington’s foes expand their arsenals while nonproliferation applies only to U.S. allies." 6/8
"A Trump-Xi deal, however, can come only after the United States has reestablished a position of strength." 7/8
"In 1980, many would have scoffed at any prediction that Reagan would end the Cold War—that he really would deliver peace through strength. Today, the argument that Trump might pull off a similar feat will strike many as absurd. But historical wisdom consists partly of remembering how unlikely epochal events seemed, even just a few years before they happened."foreignaffairs.com/united-states/…8/8
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