Ronald Reagan visited the concentration camp Bergen-Belsin, and then shortly after went to Bitburg to place a wreath on the graves of Nazi SS. After he came back to America there was obvious outrage and he said, “They [SS troops] were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.” What a great guy comparing Holocaust victims to the men who massacred them.
Just a reminder that Ronald Reagan was horrible
Also a reminder why putting up monuments to horrible people is a bad idea. When Reagan left office, his reputation was declining in the shadow of AIDS, Iran-Contra, and his terrible economic policies. After wealthy conservatives started putting his name on every goddamn airport and park bench in the country and he’s become this conservative icon, erasing the history of the horrible things he did as president. Monuments don’t preserve history, they erase it. History is not made by “great men”, it’s made by the people who stand up to them.
Fuck Reagan. He was a terrible president and a garbage human. One of the greatest tricks the right wing ever pulled off was convincing people who are smart enough to know better that Reagan wasn’t the absolute dumpster fire that he really was.