Contributor: My father, Ronald Reagan, would be heartbroken by today's White House conduct
Key takeaways
- Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice.
- My father, Ronald Reagan, died in June 2004, and each year I let myself drift into whatever realm my thoughts and memories lead me to.
- This year I have found myself reflecting on who he was as America’s parent — not in a political framework, but as a human being.
Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
This is a reflective time of year for me. My father, Ronald Reagan, died in June 2004, and each year I let myself drift into whatever realm my thoughts and memories lead me to. Sometimes it’s about who he was as a father — magical when I was a small child, but elusive and a bit awkward as I grew up.
This year I have found myself reflecting on who he was as America’s parent — not in a political framework, but as a human being. I’ve thought about how baffled he would be at the language and the statements that bellow out of the current White House. I can imagine his eyes darkening, his head bowing in sadness when the current president warned on social media that a “civilization will die tonight,” referring to bombings in Iran. My father would wince at talk of overtaking other nations and claiming them as part of America — that “51st state” trope we hear in reference to Canada or Venezuela, or the rumblings of seizing Greenland. I can see him recoiling from the profanities that are tossed out, which he might have used in private but would never allow to cross into his role as leader of the free world.