Reagan and Trump availed themselves of the same deep bench of sociopathic henchmen, from the corrupt Roy Cohn to the predatory Roger Ailes to the felonious Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. As for Reagan’s “civility and personal grace,” as Peter Wehner put it, which Reagan, exactly, was he describing? The one who used racist dog whistles like “states’ rights” and “welfare queen”? The one who said, of student protesters, “If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with”? The one who wished that California’s hungry would contract botulism? The one who permitted his press secretary to turn AIDS into
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