Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size.
“I think the myth is shattering in front of us,” Eugene Jarecki says of Ronald Reagan. Conservatives have tried for so long to “engineer Reagan into our drinking water,” he notes, but it’s an illusory Reagan, a Reagan who stands for whatever program those people want to pass, whatever agenda they’re promoting. The real Reagan was quite different from what we hear about—and this week we’re hearing a lot about Reagan, as it’s the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Eugene Jarecki joins Laura in studio to set the record straight. He’s the director of a new HBO documentary on Reagan, premiering Monday at 9 and available this week on that channel.
Thank you for reading Truthout. Before you go…
…We ask that you take just a second to read this message.
We are up against a far-reaching, wide-scale attack on press freedom coming from the Trump administration. Since his inauguration last year, we’ve seen frightening censorship, a right-wing takeover of the news industry, and worsening financial conditions for progressive nonprofits across the board.
We can only resist Trump’s agenda by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. At Truthout, we have you.
We need your help to sustain the fight against authoritarianism in 2026. Please take a meaningful action in this fight: make a one-time or monthly donation to Truthout. If you have the means, please dig deep.