Quick hit list
amnesty was a travesty and the whole “tradeoff” myth was flat out a lie, he openly supported amnesty for years and even campaigned on it in a speech against Mondale. Bush Sr also openly supported amnesty and was pro illegal migration.
appointed the first female Supreme Court justice for political points and set the standard for DEI justices
openly expanded abortion and installed pro choice judges
sabotaged the Briggs initiative
pushed the propositional nation and America is an idea propaganda
started no fault divorce
gave the NeoCons the keys to the kingdom
started free trade agreements and was the “intellectual father” of NAFTA
started GATT/ Uruguay Round negotiations which lead to the WTO
banned open carry, created gun wait periods, made automatic guns illegal, lobbied for the Brady bill and assault weapons ban.
started mass non-war spending debts by the government
The only positive I could think of was that he deregulated some industries and fought against public unions. Boomer cons lauded him as a saint because he made core assets cheap, lowered mortgage rates, and tampered inflation.
I can’t think of more NeoCon political figures that Bush Sr and Cheney and Reagan literally created their careers and stranglehold over the Republican Party. There would be no Cheney period if Reagan didn’t push him and campaign for him. There would be no Bush presidency without Reagan campaigning for him and picking him as his #2 publicly. The NeoCons were ecstatic with Reagan because he sent the military industrial complex into overdrive during “peacetime”, He spent 3/4ths of what Bush Jr spent adjusted for inflation, it was the overwhelming majority of the national debt Reagan skyrocketed.
And all of that is also true.
It turns out that when you create a massive military-industrial complex, it becomes awfully tempting to use it where use is not merited.