Ronald Reagan: Everything You Didn’t Know About His Sh*tty Past
In our 43rd episode of This F*cking Guy, Erin and Alyssa dive deep into the past of the Jelly Bean Jack*ss, Ronald Reagan. From his B-list acting days, to “fighting” WWII from Culver City, to being an FBI rat, to his unforgivable handling of the AIDS crisis, to mucking up foreign affairs for decades to come, this may be one of our most deluded guys yet.
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:30 Early Life
3:43 Reagan Goes to Hollywood
6:36 Avoiding Service in World War II
10:39 Cooperating with The Red Scare
17:15 Nancy Reagan’s Origin Story
20:25 Ronald Moves to Television + Teams Up with the FBI
22:44 How Reagan Got Into Politics
25:38 Ad Break
29:49 California Governor
36:57 Reagan Creates the Homelessness Crisis
39:38 Failed First Run for President
41:03 1980 Presidential Campaign of Lies
43:12 Assassination Attempt Leads to Nancy’s Obsession with Astrology
47:19 Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” Campaign
48:47 Ronald Reagan’s Failed Policies and Lies
52:34 The 1984 Campaign: Morning in America
53:58 Ad Break
55:43 The Iran Contra Affair
1:00:02 Propping up Dictators Around the World
1:02:50 Reagan’s Failed Handling of the AIDS Crisis
1:10:10 Reagan’s Failing Cognitive Health, Death, and Legacy
1:12:48 Putting Reagan on the Matrix
Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l5uWdXdPiHyLOt7wdvJOCw7J77GMSmoejjWuWqc5q6k/edit?usp=sharing
For a transcript of an episode of Hysteria, please email transcripts@crooked.com.
Political commentator and comedy writer Erin Ryan and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco are joined by a bicoastal squad of funny, opinionated women to talk through everything from reproductive rights to romcoms. They break down the political news of the week, plus the topics, trends, and cultural stories that affect women’s lives. New episodes drop every Thursday. Get in touch: hysteria@crooked.com.
Photos courtesy of AP Photo Archive
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@crw-bm7mm
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
And your republicans still think he was the best prez ever. Such a bad actrr to.
@OfficialUSAgent
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Reagan tore down a Shitty Wall in Berlin & now Nazis are in Poland again. What else did Reagan do ? Let all of Mexico into America 🤷♀
@Anonmillenial
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
I grew up in the midwest where it was just accepted that Reagan was a saint and the perfect conservative icon. This helped me unbrainwash myself. Thank you.
@OfficialUSAgent
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
I didn't like Reagan although a lot of people did. He reminded me of Pee Wee in Cowpoke
@DanielleA2023
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
The global crisis of unaffordable housing, tax evading price gouging corporations and billionaires, community disinvestment, lobbyists, religious demons started under this right wing 🪱
@PhilipMcCaig
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Ronald Reagan: Government is bad. Duh. What would we have without government? Somalia and several other nations that almost have no government are places where almost no services are available to citizens. Electricity might be on a few hours each day and not much else gets done, ever. Jane Wyman was supposedly gifted at performing fellatio. I wouldn't know, though. And, the United States used to be progressive and we should be leading the world in education, science and medicine. Today we lead the world influencers, conspiracies, ignorance and xenophobia.
@Petenpete
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
There couldnt be a djt without a ronald reagan.
@aaronbrumgard7285
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
This is a movie I want to see.
@Blankenship-LeoMartin
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Welp Nancy, it's time to take off that goddamn red dress and just….say yes.
@geargeekpdx3566
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
The masterstroke of the GOP in my lifetime is the self-realization that the people in their party are glued to their TV, are old, stupid and poor, and just need a culture war to belong to SOMETHING. So they picked an old timey whitebread squeaky clean old Hollywood B-lister to run for office in Reagan, leading up to Trump, same formula.
The Dems have merely been reactive to this with the usual promise of a better life for people but without their involvement in a cultural battle. Ironically, Trump is so heinous that he created the means for the Dems to have an actual cause for involving themselves into at least making a cultural response to this.
@MichaelOSullivan-l8g
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Everyone loved Ronald Reagan
@supernova19805
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
I am old enough, to remember ALL of it and never understood the admiration of this guy then and since. They used to call him the great communicator, which was laughable, since if it wasn't scripted, he couldn't answer a question intelligently, then pretended he couldn't hear the reporter by cocking his ear and shrugging his shoulders. He was the beginning of the end of the middle class, and did so much harm that to this day, is incalculable.
@mkl5448
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
My goodness, who does this sound like?🤔 And almost exactly.
Edit-I really have to give it to whoever is writing the copy, doing the research, and the fact checking. That's a lot of information to go through, all extremely interesting, eye opening, and of course alarming. The hosts are very charming, with the subtle jokes, the rye smiles and reactions two shity people. Very well done and highly entertaining.
@scarletohhaha6938
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
As an Aquarian can I just say…we don't claim that evil S.O.B!
@atambwalisametana6363
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Being immoral seems to be a prerequisite for becoming POTUS.
@bradleybarnett9545
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Hellcats Of The Navy, the only film nancy & ron made together (she played his gf) was written by a blacklisted man under a pseudonym.
Bernard Gordon wrote as Raymond T. Marcus.
@mawlakewlz
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
We who survived Nixon never thought Republicans could get worse.
@mawlakewlz
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Reagan was elected because he was a movie star who looked the part of the grandfatherly movie president.
Americans are crazy for people who look the part.
@NYSports14
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
4:15 it isn’t misogyny…it’s logic and critical thinking
@mikelinpittsburghtachyon8589
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Really? You still believe the AIDS Lies…. amyl nitrite huffing… causes it not hiv. So does AZT and fauci knew and knows it…
@DaveGarfield-d9k
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
THANK YOU SO MUCH, ladies! This confirms what I'd long suspected, especially after the elections 😢 of The Tangerine TODDLER (TURDdler?) that we currently suffer under. SO! A real, genuine DIPSTICK, eh? THIS! This is why we can no longer afford to support or back ANY G.D. ReTHUGniCON trying to slither into any office, from local dog catcher to PresiDICK of the US of A!!
@VJShordee
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
I’m listening to this. I knew about Regan and what he did to ppl with mental health issues. I’m going to sound cruel but now I wish Hinckley Jr. didn’t miss. I just went on Google, Reagan was president for only 69 days when the attempt was made. It’s really unfortunate others were hurt. If Hinckley was successful Bush would have been president. That may have stopped the first gulf war.
Reagan was a terrible president, but I didn’t realize his ties to Hoover and him being a snitch. Him and his wife giving up names of ppl in Hollywood at the time of McCarthy horrible just horrible.
I didn’t realize he was a terrible actor. I knew his first wife was a good actor. Did you say why they divorced?
He was a horrific president. I didn’t realize he was such a bad governor. Well he has something in common with Trump, lying. I guess ppl like to vote for famous ppl for some god awful reason.
Nancy loved the psychics, but she wasn’t alone. So did Princess Diana. I remember ads on TV for psychics all the time.
12 years of Republican presidency. Lord have mercy. Trickle down economics or Reaganomics what Horse Manure
Like I said Hinckley would have done the world a blessing. I remember that. Little did I know about Reagan background and history. If Reagan ran today he still might have gotten elected. Back then they kept their racism and bigotry kinda under wraps not like today which is wide open. We also didn’t have Fox News back then, but Rush Limbaugh started in 1984 and went national in 1988. Man he got to spread his hate, lies and conspiracy theories for a long time.
@Johnny-qu9op
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Wonder what Ronny would think of Donny's ICE brown shirts 😂🤔 Slava Ukraine 💪
@tesmith47
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
You should say WHITE AMERICA voted for him
@LadyBug8751
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
I think the last good president was Lincoln.
@JV-rx3ov
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
The "Nancy Reagan Throat GOAT" was one of the funniest moments in social media hell in which we live. Such a self-own by Tiny Ben.
@sstolarik
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
"Say no to drugs" while her husband sent drug dealers planes to Nicaragua full of weapons and giving the drug dealers carte blanche when they re-entered American airspace/landing in Florida and Texan airports, loaded with "product".
War on drugs, my ass.
@Keyvand
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
I think you need to be in balance and not categorical bashers, first The historical record shows that the White House declined to intervene through the requested channel, Reagan personally called Hudson while he was hospitalized, and Hudson later gained admission to the military hospital through the intervention of French Defense Minister Charles Hernu.
Second you use Iran-Contra as a pitch in the trailer but there was no details on it.
@LWfanboy
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
Not a Reagan fan, but I'm pretty sure Warners intervened with Ronnie's draft board to keep him from getting classified as "unfit".
Apparently he had really poor vision.
@WarbVIII
July 13, 2026 at 7:57 pm
I am generally disgusted by the fact the republicans never get called out on the fact that twice their party heads(national committee of them) has negotiated with our enemies with the goal to influence elections. Iran was going to release the hostages from the embassy much earlier but was convinced not to do so before the 1980 elections, you know and how it's treason by law and the constitution. Yet no one ever seems to talk about it when talking about Reagan. He was always a puppet of the party, but it's always about the man and nothing about the party. One man is always the scapegoat, which is almost never true in politics. No one person outside of murders and assaults' is ever solely responsible, others have to be involved for it to happen.