Do you take it as denigrating Reagan? I simply take it as depicting people as they actually were.
Reagan was a product of the entertainment society. Pointing that out, is not denigrating him.
Saying Reagan was a product of the entertainment society is one thing. Suggesting
his entertainment
society was the same thing as the 1980s-1990s tabloid version is something else again. The chosen images,
too, were somewhat disingenuous---choosing magazine ads (as if Reagan was the only actor or actress to
endorse cigarettes or clothes) and the box art for one particular turkey film he made (as if he was the only
actor or actress who made a few turkeys amidst their better works) could be taken as quite suggestive of the
thought that, well, he wasn't exactly Mr. Upright, considering attitudes today toward commercial endorsements.
Almost as if to say that conservatives supporting a former actor for president means they have no business
objecting to a realtor as president. Well, now. If you say it
that way, without names or particulars, you
could say from there that a former actor was an exercise in a kind of frivolity compared to a former realtor.
Now add the names. You won't need anyone to tell you the distinctions, which only begin with Reagan's
adeptness at communicating---which he himself credited, I repeat, to his years hosting
General Electric
Theater and having to meet, greet, and speak to numerous GE facilities as part of his contract---and
Mr. Trump's clumsiness at it.
Maybe Mr. Trump, too, might have been served better hosting some sort of anthology series with concurrent
contractual requirements to meet, greet, and speak to people at his sponsors' facilities. It might not make
his politics or his performance in the presidency to date any more palatable to his critics, but it might make
him a lot less likely to trip all over himself when he communicates.
Though I suspect myself that, given the absolute choice, even some of Donaldus Minimus's more recalcitrant
supporters might prefer watching
Bedtime for Bonzo over
The Apprentice.