Opinion | The Decade That Ruined Everything (Gift Article)

Always www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

This is a theme I hammer on whenever the subject of our economy comes up. Ronald Reagan, while not as bonkers as Trump, did the most damage to our country's economy since Herbert Hoover. #ProudBlue www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

My wife always blames Reagan for everything. I'm inclined to go with Nixon. Anyway, our @northeasternu.bsky.social School of Journalism director Jonathan Kaufman has written what sounds like a great new book, and he agrees with my wife. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

🎁🔗: Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Essential history for Americans. Tr■mpism in many ways is basically Reaganism with the addition of a lot more racism, tons of corruption, no impulse control, and a heaping helping of narcissistic psychopathology. "Blame Ronald Reagan" | Jonathan Kaufman www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Could not agree more. This is something I think many of us, who lived through the 80s, have recognized for some time. Nice to see it getting the attention it deserves.

To all the Fairness Doctrine “experts” here; go ahead and write to the Washington Post telling them they don’t understand the Fairness Doctrine and should defer to your expertise. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

🎁NYT Gift Article: "Blame Ronald Reagan...embraced a strategy [by] conservative think tanks..stripping away longstanding regulations to limit corporate control of news media. Within a few years, all major tv networks were owned by giant conglomerates." 💔💙🇺🇸🌎🎯 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

"We’re not living after the 1980s. We’re living in them, trapped in the invisible architecture built by a clutch of executives, politicians and conservative advocacy groups (that was later abetted by a generation of business-friendly Democrats)" Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o... Yep. Reagan ran up the deficit and ushered in the ruthless capitalism that prioritizes profit above all else. The wealth gap has continued to expand, and we've become a debtor nation. Trump's forte is bankrupting businesses. Now he's bankrupting the USA.

Jonathan Kauffman provides a brilliant essay on what has gone wrong plus how since the 1980s and, just as importantly, what the Dems must do now short and long term. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

We’re not living after the 1980s. We’re living in them, trapped in the invisible architecture built by a clutch of executives, politicians and conservative advocacy groups (that was later abetted by a generation of business-friendly Democrats).

#PowellMemo Made Reagan possible… #GiftCopy www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

"We’re not living after the 1980s. We’re living in them, trapped in the invisible architecture built by a clutch of executives, politicians and conservative advocacy groups..." Truth from @jonathankaufman.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

“We’re not living after the 1980s. We’re living in them, trapped in the invisible architecture built by a clutch of executives, politicians and conservative advocacy groups (that was later abetted by a generation of business-friendly Democrats).”1/5

Blame Ronald Reagan: We’re not living after the 1980s. We’re living in them. (@jonathankaufman.bsky.social) 🎁Gift article: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o... Gift

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan

"For liberals and Democrats to wrest this country from the grip of the 1980s, they need to learn from four decades of conservative success."

Kaufman's point is about institutional staying power. The 1980s helped reshape corporate management, broadcasting, and conservative legal networks. The current Paramount merger is one example of how those structures still shape debates over concentrated power. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

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Blame Ronald Reagan. We are suffering the consequences of the conservative revolution that began in the 1980s. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o... This all started with Ronald Reagan . . . .

This is funny considering my Mother of All Truth Bombs yesterday. I'll post it below. Check out the continuity. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Interesting perspective. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

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"" the single-minded pursuit of profit and shareholder value as a strategy was “the dumbest idea in the world” "" www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Yes.

I've always blamed Reagan - and Thatcher- for the destruction of the middle class. He was an actor who knew how to lie really well. Lies about trickle down economics, about welfare queens, about religious morals, about Iran-Contra, etc. This opinion piece is spot on. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

The 1980s weren’t a detour; they were a construction project. Reagan-era tax cuts, deregulation, the Federalist Society, and a corporate-first creed built institutions that still shape U.S. politics. Trump isn’t an aberration so much as an heir to that architecture. ⇘ www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Well... I wrote about this in the book I published on AI and education in 2022. Reagan and Thatcher's destructive work was perfectly completed by their right-wing zealots, but most perfectly by Bill Clinton and — later on— Obama.

“Blame Ronald Reagan” @ellenenders.bsky.social based upon your conversation yesterday.

#WreckedUSA The USA is a wrecked nation #SearchRescueLostHeartsMinds #RuinedEverything #RuinedUSA #FWakeRuined #ReaganRuined #EntertainmentFranchise #CrisisOfNotUnderstandingNeilPostman 1985 book about #RonaldReagan #NeilPostmanWasRight1985 #Anal1909 #Situ202609B www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

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An updated version of Rick Perlstein's "Reaganland". www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Indeed....this era only 6 years away from women still needing Male signatures to open a credit card is nirvana to some. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

I’ll buy it but with a caveat. These so-called “conservatives” are nothing of the sort. From overturning the New Deal consensus to overturning Roe and the Civil Rights Act these men (overwhelmingly) have acted as the radicals and reactionaries they clearly are. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

"Moving beyond their grasp is going to require the same strategic thinking, organizing and patience that these men used so effectively 45 years ago." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Republicans have a 40-year lead on Dems. Get your asses in gear!

Right on cue. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

The Decade That Ruined Everything www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o... 45 years of elevating the worst people, their paranoia, and their bad ideas.

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Here's an introduction to how the US got to the point where our government serves the billionaires and corporations instead of serving We the People. It happened systematically with intent. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

1) Jonathan Kaufman comprehensively deconstructs the terrible damage done by neoliberalism, which GE CEO Jack Welch essentially defined in 2009 as the "single-minded pursuit-- www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

We’re not living after the 1980s. We’re living in them, trapped in the invisible architecture built by a clutch of executives, politicians and conservative advocacy groups (that was later abetted by a generation of business-friendly Democrats). www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o... Mr. Kaufman omits a key point: white grievance. This led to Reagan's popularity, and the GOP's. Unions moved right after whites lost all control. Women and blacks took the blame for job losses. Project 2025 follows Reagan's crusade for white men.

How Reagan’s 1980s introduced some of the worst problems and trends of our time today: mass layoffs, celeb CEOs, deregulation, slashing corporate taxes, mass corporate control of the MSM, etc. A plan is offered in this article on how to dismantle all this. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Ya don't say! (Winks at the three people who've been following me and reading my books for the past decade.) www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Gift article www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

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Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Indeed I do.

Always have, always will! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com headline change ⚠️ Framing Shift (9/10) ⬅️ https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/opinion/80s-reagan-revolution-deregulation.html New text is now Blame Ronald Reagan

This is an American anaylsis, but as Canada tied itself to the U.S. during this exact era with free trade and then NAFTA, it's fascinating reading given where we are now. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

‘We’re not living after the 1980s. We’re living in them, trapped in the invisible architecture built by a clutch of executives, politicians and conservative advocacy groups.’ The Decade That Ruined Everything www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o... Unfettered support for big business, cutting taxes, and deregulation under Reagan laid the groundwork for Trump. The Federalist Society gave us the conservative SCOTUS. Democrats need to rebuild protections, control tech companies, and learn to “play the long game.”

some of us have always. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Yes. We’re definitely living in trump’s 80s.

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame the corporate media. They normalized the worship of the rich. They went along with the export of tens of thousands of American factories to other countries representing tens of millions of jobs. They looked away while vast monopolies were allowed to build.

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

gift article from The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

This column has now been renamed "Blame Ronald Reagan". www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

I'd love to say, "Duh!" www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Reagan Ruined Everything. This is the fundamental truth about America, and the main reason to Never Trust the Never Trumpers. None of them are willing to own up to the destruction their Saint Ronnie wrought. May his memory be a curse. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Yup. This is an important article. One takeaway: “For liberals and Democrats to wrest this country from the grip of the 1980s, they need to learn from four decades of conservative success.” Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

When you’re listening to cheesy old ’80s sounds, remember: One of the most enduring legacies of the 1980s is neither the LinnDrum nor neon wristbands, it is the unchecked power of big business. Good read on Reagan: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Jonathan Kaufman Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan You're waking up every single day wondering why your rent is insane and healthcare is a joke, only to realize you're still living in Ronald Reagan's haunted 1981 blueprint. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan ...It is time to set aside the wistful nostalgia for shoulder pads, Rubik’s Cube, and Pac-Man and recognize that the 1980s actually built the architecture of the world we inhabit today. Dismantling it is the first step to escape. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o... If you are poor and voting for #corruptgop, wake up!

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Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

Blame Ronald Reagan www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

"We’re not living after the 1980s. We’re living in them, trapped in the invisible architecture built by a clutch of executives, politicians and conservative advocacy groups (that was later abetted by a generation of business-friendly Democrats)." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...

This explains A LOT… www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/o...