was 16 when Ronald Reagan came into office. I was on the cusp of becoming politically aware, and interested in international affairs. Although I couldn’t really explain why at that young age, I instinctively knew I was experiencing something really special living through the Reagan presidency.

The first consequence of the Reagan election that was noticed in the press was that on the day of his inauguration, Iran released the American hostages it had held for over 400 days, those prisoners American warriors led by the hapless Jimmy Carter died tragically trying to rescue. Iran clearly got the message — let my people go! The similarities we are seeing now with the Trump-Iran relationship are striking.

Reagan rebuilt the military, deregulated the economy, cut taxes and saw economic growth explode for the next several decades, allowing Bill Clinton to ride on Reagan’s policy success, prodded on, of course, by Newt Gingrich in Congress with the Contract with America.

Sound familiar to what is going on today?

In the early Reagan years, he had to fix Jimmy Carter’s broken American economy. Interest rates were raised dramatically to cut off the cancer of inflation. A recession ensued, similar to what we may face today as Trump finally deals with the “China problem” once and for all.

I also remember the day Reagan was shot (I was in my father’s office when the news flashed across the TV), as he was hated just as much as Trump. Most people forget that. The Left called him Ronald Ray Gun and the a stupid cowboy actor, all the while Ted Kennedy was actively colluding with the Soviet Union behind America’s back, attempting to blunt Reagan’s “We Win, They Lose” foreign policy, a truly treasonous act. Europeans poured into the streets calling for a nuclear freeze and protested against Pershing II missiles being deployed on The Continent to confront the evil empire of the USSR.

The Democrats haven’t changed; they just become more honest about what they actually are — diseased communists who don’t give a damn about you or me or America.

I only hope they don’t try to kill President Trump as well; God knows they’d love to.

POTUS is going to need our continued support; it’s going to be a very rough few years, but we are at the beginning of a new American century.

Originally posted at The Washington Times

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