Reagan's administration did all that, and not to mention they side-channelled with Iran to not release the hostages so Carter couldn't have the win. Just pure machiavellian thought process.
Also: regulating ketchup as a "vegetable serving" (so school lunches didn't need to have fresh veggies).
Just thinking outside the box on how to completely F up government to serve their agenda.
The basic problem is that everyone makes mistakes. I feel bad if people do things maliciously or in bad faith. None of those, as bullets, feel that way. He did a lot of big things, some of which will invariably be big mistakes.
Expanded from bullets (e.g. Iran-Contra) there was badness, but what would be helpful would be to:
1) Expand those out a little bit, to where we can see the bad.
2) Compare to other presidents for level of bad.
On the whole, I have complex feelings here. The quality of recent presidents and presidential candidates has been very, very low. I think I'd take Reagan over Hillary Clinton, Trump, or Biden. On the other hand, I think I'd take Obama, Romney, and probably McCain over Reagan.
The right's obsession with trickle down economics alone and the no new tax pledge is enough to think Reagan was a bad president.
We see an entire portion government apparatus effectively obsessed with killing the government, but only performatively. This is what I see as a Reagan special.
