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Ronald Reagan: Everything You Didn’t Know About His Sh*tty Past

Hysteria | July 13, 2026



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

Crooked Media believes that we need a better conversation about politics, culture, and the world around us—one that doesn’t just focus on what’s broken, but what we can do to fix it. We are a media network that showcases stories, voices, and opportunities for activism that inform, entertain, and inspire action, because it’s up to all of us to do our part to build a better world.

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Learn more about us at crooked.com

Written by Hysteria

Comments

This post currently has 30 comments.

  1. @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 🪱

  2. @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.

  3. @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.

  4. @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.

  5. @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.

  6. @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!!

  7. @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.

  8. @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.

  9. @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.

  10. @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.

  11. @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.

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