April 21, 2025 • 37 mins
In this episode, Michael Reagan, the son of former President Ronald Reagan, shares insights about his father's legacy, the impact of politics on family life, and the changing landscape of Hollywood. He reflects on the lessons learned from his father, the challenges faced by political families, and the current state of American politics, drawing comparisons between Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. The Tudor Dixon Podcast is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network. For more visit TudorDixonPodcast.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Today, I have with
me the eldest son of former President Ronald Reagan, Michael Reagan. Michael,
thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good to begger getting older.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey, it's always good to be getting older, right, That's
what people don't realize.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
It is good to be getting older.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
But you have had quite a special life with your
dad being the President of the United States, and I
think he started running for office when you were twenty, right, gosh, I.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Was twenty years old. But remember I had a mother.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
For good, I had a mom. You know. It's really
hisstuy up.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Until my dad gave the speech A Time for Choosing
back in nineteen sixty four, I was Jane Wyman's son.
And then my dad gave the speech A Time for Choosing,
and literally overnight I became Ronald Reagan's son.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
That's so funny because I want to talk about both worlds,
because today people oftentimes call Washington, d C. The Hollywood
for ugly people, because people have become like really obsessed
with themselves. But you got to see a different I
think you probably saw a different side of Hollywood than
we know today, right, oh yeah, much.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Different side of Hollywood, you know than you see today.
Not they didn't have activists, didn't have you know, the
liberals in there and communism in there.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
What happened with my dad.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Thought back basically in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties.
You know, a lot of actors don't realize that it
was my dad who gave them health care insurance. It
was my dad who gave them residuals. They didn't have
residuals up until that point in time. And to show
you why the Reagan was, I mean, I go, are
you crazy?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Dad?
Speaker 4 (01:39):
When he wrote the bill and signed it to give
residuals to actors, he wrote himself out of it because
he didn't want people to think that he only passed
his bill through SAG so that when his career was over.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
He would have a way to make a living, so
he didn't get residuals.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And you're why people love him because he was about
the people.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Oh yeah, he truly was. And it was never about him.
It was about people around him and what have you,
And whether you were a friend of his or your
a family member. You know, he really treated people pretty
well equally. He told stories. And as a good friend
of mine, Bill Clark, Judge Bill Clark said, years ago
(02:25):
and a great friend of my father's, I said, you know,
your father spoke to us in parables, and you really
think about it, you go back and listen to his speeches.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
He did.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
He spoke to us in parables, He told us a story,
and he prayed to God afterwards.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You got it.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Was it like that growing up? I mean, was he
like that as a father too?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Always a lesson? You know, if he took me to
the ranch, which he took me every Saturday morning, go
out to the ranch and shoot ground squirrels in the afternoon,
the lesson wasn't shooting straight. The lesson was to wait
for these little damn things to pop their heads out
of the ground. And if you didn't get the shot
the first time, you.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Had to sit and wait and wait wait until it
would pop up again. So the lesson there was patience.
And that's just what he did, you know, with members
of the family.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And you know, you look back at that point, I.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Went, like, Dad, just let me shoot the damn squirrel.
But then later on you look back and say, oh,
he was teaching me a lesson.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And I think that's kind of how I mean.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I would say, even today, Democrats are starting to talk
about him that way, which I find fascinating because I
think the first the first time Trump ran in twenty sixteen,
I didn't get that strong love of your father from
the Democrats. But now this time, I mean, even Alissa
Slotkin is saying, well, he's not Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
And I'm like, what do you do You now love
Ronald Reagan?
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Well, yeah, interesting enough, I said, on so many occasions
I might written about the fact they love Ronald Reagan
the day we buried him. Up until that point in time,
he was at war with the media and what have you,
and some of them, Sam and others came to be believers.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
In Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
But again it was always a battle. And people talk
about what's going on today. Well, you know, back in
my day, the time of my dad, it was ABCNBC
and CBS. But they were all talking about him. They're
all negative. They're all saying he was a racist. They're
all saying he was going to stop social Security, they're
all saying he was going to start a war. They
(04:30):
were saying the same things back then on three channels
where today they're saying on every channel, if you will,
and there's so many.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And there's so many, and there's so many other ways
for people to say all the social media, and everybody
thinks they're a journalist, and everybody's going out and they're
all attacking, and it's very tough. But you said something
at the beginning that you were Jane wyman Son before
you were Ronald Reagan's son.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
And I think that's if you've watched.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
The movie, and I'm sure you watched the movie of
your father's life at the beginning. So it's fascinating from
my perspective because as a viewer, I'm watching that and
I'm like, man, he was in a situation where his
wife was really famous and she was a really great actress,
and he was an okay actor. You know, he wasn't
(05:15):
the one in the spotlight. But there has to be
a security in that lifestyle, and there has to be
kind of like an allure to that lifestyle. For him
to step out and run for governor would have been challenging.
But also he had the name IDs, So what tell
us a little bit about what that was like from
the perspective of family.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
I remember He was the first president elected who had
been divorced, no, probably been divorced. So that was a
real big issue, you know, during the campaign, but it
was interually after the We saw the movie at the
Grammin's here in Hollywood. And I've known market everybody for
twenty years. I'll be telling them stories for twenty years.
So and a lot of those stories showed.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Up in the movie. But they came the actor he said,
do we treat your mother? Okay? Was that all right?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
I said, let me tell you something. I said, my
dad gave a speech during the nineteen eighties, and I
called my mom on the phone. I said, Mom, did
you see Dad's speech tonight? She said no, I said
you didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Why?
Speaker 4 (06:16):
She said I didn't like it in nineteen thirties, Why
would I.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Like it today? And I said, you got her absolutely
honor present. Correct.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
She didn't like politics, she didn't like it at all,
and she didn't liked being dragged into these things. But
yet she voted for him twice. She didn't say a word.
What was great about my mom? And which doesn't happen anymore.
My mom was offered. I can't tell you how many
books to write during my father's presidential life about Ronald Reagan,
(06:48):
negative books offered a lot of money her contract she
had without and Crest simply said, I will not ask
answer any questions about my former her husband. If that
question is asked, I will simply get up from the
table or chair and walk away.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I'm not going to do that. And she's never said.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
A word about my father, her former husband, until the
day we buried my dad at the library, and then
she said some wonderful I get choked up wonderful worries
about my dad. And that's the kind of woman she was,
and that doesn't exist anymore in Hollywood, and that's really sad.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Such leadership she showed, and what you could be like.
And it's not like that at all. She was terrific.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
I am the way I am because my mom. I
am the way I am politically because of my father,
because I never knew my mother's politics. I never asked
her who she voted for, never talked politics for my
mom at all, except for that one phone call. What
do you think of Dad's speech? Didn't like it nineteen.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Thirty or forties? Why would I like it today?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
But it is really hard on family members and she probably.
I think that's the ugly side that people don't get
to see that your life is on display, whether you
want it to be or not. If you are the spouse,
if you are the ex, no matter what, they're going
after you. They're trying to get information on you, and
they're trying to break your family apart. And I can't
(08:13):
imagine what it was like because you mentioned he's the
first person to be elected president who was divorced and.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Had young kids. So at that time you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Have these forces in these three major media corporations that
are just trying to destroy you, because that's really what
it is. It's not news. They're trying to destroy you.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I couldn't find a.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Job after my dad became president of United States. Nobody
wanted to hire me. They thought I was going to
be the next Billy Carter, and the media was after me.
The ANLA pulled two or three search wards on my
house looking for information to use. I guess my father
in the nineteen eighty campaign. Yeah, people asked me, why
didn't you ever run? I should ask my wife standing
(08:58):
at the front door watching LA come in and do
a or DA come in and do search warrants on
her house, her privacy. That's like great in many cases
when they walk into the house like that and tear
everything apart. And I said, I'll go out and speak
and write articles, but I'm not going to run and
allow my family to go through what we went through
then at that point. So I always create jobs for
(09:22):
myself because nobody would hire me. And that's how I
got back into boat racing, doing fundraising for different charitable causes,
setting five world records in nineteen eighties with a powerboat
raising million and a half two million dollars for cistic fibrosis,
the Olympic Committee and all of those things.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
But they're all fundraising events because I said, if I'm
going to get.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Into something, I need to do something to raise money
for different charities so the media cannot attack me for me.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
You're so Reagan, You're so right.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Because after I ran for governor here in the state
of Michigan, when I came out, I had one of
the people that supported me say, I want you to
come and interview for a job my company, and the
CEO of the company looked at me and he said,
I can't hire you as an out Republican like you
can't be hired. And that was right after the race,
and I thought, hmm, this could be really bad. And
then another guy said to me, He's like, once you've
(10:14):
run for office, you're you're like toxic. You can't and
that for you, you never ran. It was your dad
that because and that's that's the destructive force that I
don't think people realize. And that's the kind of behind
the scenes that I wanted people to understand, is that
when you do this and you offer yourself up to serve,
you are taking your entire family with you. And you
(10:36):
talk about it as being just as ugly back then
as it is now. And I think people oftentimes go, gosh,
you know, it's so bad now. You see what happened
to Governor Shapiro, which was horrible. You see the violence,
and I think that maybe on the level of exposure
of the things that are happening. But your father, they
attempted to assassinate him, They went after him.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean, this is the politic. Hicks is an ugly game.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
It is a game, and it is affected by children.
Cameron and Ashley. Ashley's lost jobs. She's a teacher and
now you know she runs a school. She's a principal,
but getting a principal job. She actually signed a contract
to be principal for one school, and within forty eight
hours it was rescinded because they found out Ronald Reagan
was her her grandfather.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Oh my gosh, you're saying me.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
No, same things happened to my son trying to get
jobs because Ronald Reagan is his grandfather.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I mean, people don't see that side of it and
the damage it does.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
So you know, we've been there to kind of help
our kids and they're doing great, but again, this is
what they face in life too. It really trickles down
all the way down, and it's the anger and the
mad I mean, go see the movie Reagan. One of
them several parts of the movie is my dad's shot.
(11:55):
He's in the hospital. He wakes up in the hospital
and who's in the hospital room with him, hipp O'Neil
with his rosary in his hand, praying for my father,
and the two of them pray together for the healing
and my father.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Now, I asked Michel, would that happen today? Would that
happen today? And I think not. I think not, it
would not happen today.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
And I think that's the sad thing about it.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I mean, even this past week you see Gretchen Whitmer
go into the Oval office and obviously she did some
silly things putting.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
The yes, yes, I'm not on your show. Okay, right, I.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Said, I think there are two groups of people that
haven't figured out how Pikaboo works, and that's the toddlers
and Governor Whitmer so doesn't realize that when you put
the folder up, we can still see you. But to
be fair, she was going there to meet with the
president and that enough, that alone was enough for the
Democrats to just eviscerate her. I mean the people that
(12:57):
came out, especially on the state level, that went after her.
How could you negotiate with him?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
How could you?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
I mean, he's the president. What does it come to
if you don't have people that are willing to sit
down together and you can't.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
You can't sit down together. They don't allow it.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
And look with Bill Maher, Bill mar goes and has
you know, dinner with the President of United States. You
say what you want to say about you know what
Bill Marer did and president did and what have you?
Presidenty Graceius.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
But he's being an attacked from where he'd been an
attacked from the left for daring to do that. And
so how do you how do you.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Get together and solve any issues when you've got those
kinds of things going on? And I will tell you,
I mean, you look at Trump, you say what you
want to say about Trump, but he is wide open.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, so wide open. If you don't know Donald Trump
is by now, where have you been where?
Speaker 4 (13:51):
I mean, if you're going to say something about Donald Trump,
you don't think there's gonna be a return, return.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Salvo at that point in time. Uh No, I mean
he is very open.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Cross conferences, bringing people into the Oval Office and Witbert
invited into the Oval office where you saw an executive order?
Has he ever signed executive order by himself in the
middle of the night. There's always meeting in the Oval Office,
and point.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
He does that. So what does she think?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Is she not paying attention to the President United States?
She paid attention enough to say, jeez, I love to
work with you, I appreciate you, I love your terrorists.
Going to help me here in Michigan with a building
of cars and all these other things.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
That's great. But I don't want.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Anybody to know me well, and I can't remember a
time when she was invited by Biden, and that to
me is even more bizarre. Here's a woman who was
so she was literally promised the vice presidency and then
it was rescinded. It went to Kamala Harris after the fact.
I mean, her staff we had heard was actually in
DC looking for homes because they were planning on moving
(14:54):
to be the vice president.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
And then she doesn't.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
I mean, she's never talked about going to the White
House with that I can remember with Joe Biden as president,
but she goes with Donald Trump. And I think you
brought up Bill Maher going there, and I think one
of the things that was very critical that he said
was all of the things that I didn't like about
him were absent when I actually met him.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, isn't that interesting how.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
That works when you've heard terrible things and then you
actually meet the person that's called finding out who they
really are it.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Really is and the fact that.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
There's a way to laugh at himself. And in fact,
Bill Maher brings a whole list of these are the
things you've said about me, and Trump signs it gives
it back to him. Now he's got a signature on it.
So Trump gets it, I mean, and it's like, doesn't
anybody else get it? I mean the reason he's doing well,
he's having fun, right, having fun, and nobody.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Else is having fun. They're angry and you're going why
are you angry?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
I mean you look at Coachella Valley this last weekend,
cell A Valley, Bernie going down there. I mean talking
about in a great weekend, people at Cochella who never
draw a sober breath. Anyway, Coachella at that point done.
I mean you could have put anybody on stage say yeah,
I love like you were great.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I mean seventeen dollars lemonade, which I'm sure with Spike,
and there's a little bit of weed floating around down
there at Gazella. I mean you know.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
So again it's why are you angry? Why are you upset?
And who caused you to be upset? You lied for
four years, You lied about the President United States and
is cognitive ability.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You lied about it for the public and you got
found out.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Stay tuned for more with Michael Reagan. But first let
me tell you about my partners at IFCJ. Israel is
still under attack missile fire has resumed from Israel's enemies,
terrorists who seek the utter death and destruction of Israel.
Here in America, we can't imagine what it's like to
live in constant fear like this, but for the people
of Israel, it's very real, and it's very real every
(16:59):
single day. Please join me and show people of Israel
you'll help protect them in this time of attack and uncertainty.
And one of the best ways to do this is
by giving to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
Your gift today helps provide security essentials like bomb shelters,
flack jackets and bulletproof ESTs, armored security vehicles, ambulances, and
(17:21):
so much more. There's no better time to give than
right now, during the Passover holiday, when we celebrate Israel's
historic deliverance and birth as a nation. Give a special
Passover gift today and help protect the people of Israel.
Call eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's eight
eight eight four eight eight four three two five, or
(17:44):
go online at SUPPORTIFCJ dot org. It's one word, it's
support IFCJ dot org. Ernie had it take it away
from him, I mean, why does he continue to speak
for these people. It's never a fair election on their side,
and they can never say that it wasn't a fair
election on our side because there are plenty of establishment Republicans.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Trump would not have been their first choice.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
But the people chose, the people chose, and the people
chose Donald Trump, and he is president. Now, well, let
me ask you this. A lot of people do compare
your father and Donald Trump. What do you think your
father would think of Donald Trump?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I think my dad.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
You know when I said, Donald Trump in twenty fifteen,
you call me on the phone, I'm running for president
of United States.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
What do you think? I said, I think you'll destroy
the Republican Party. You have another question? Yeah, And so
we talked for a moment.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
He said, well, I didn't know your father, but I
liked your father. Because I liked your father, I like you.
I said, well, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I didn't know your.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Father either, but I liked your father. Because I liked
your father, I like you. And he said, will you
ever come to the White House so we have a
reggae day? Said absolutely, you know, I'll return it.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You come up to the ranch and we'll have a
Trump Day up there. But well, I didn't realize. Then
I wrote up at a piece about this not long
after the election. I said, I didn't realize he had
to break the party to rebuild the party to win
again because it.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Was not in a winning mode, and so I had
him on the back. And so I was right in
twenty fifteen. But I was right when I wrote the
piece and said I didn't realize he had to break
the party to rebuild the party to in fact win
again like he won in November. So, you know, I mean,
there's always gonna be some similarities between them, if you will.
(19:31):
But one thing is they both knew what they both
knew what they wanted. They both you know, and I
wrote up at pieces last week.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
You know, China is his Russia, my Dad's Russia. I mean,
that's how I look at He's.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Dealing with China and she dad had a deal with
Soviet Union, Mikyle Gorbacheff and all the leaders before him.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So similarities, they're how they're handling, they're being tough, they're
being strong. What happened in the Oval office with the
President of Ukraine, I said.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
That was another Ronald Reagan moment, because Ronald Reagan did
the same thing in Rekovic with magow Gorbachev when magau
Gorbachev said.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Hey, you have to give up Sdi or Star Wars,
and my dad said yet and walked away.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
In fact, my dad told me in nineteen seventy six
when he lost, I said, why do you want to
even run for president? He said, for so long I've
watched American president sit down with secretary generals of the
Soviet Union, and Michael, every time we sit down, they
always ask us to give up something to get.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Along with them.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I wanted to be the first president sit down with
a secretary general of the Soviet Union. And while he
was telling me what it was, I was going to
have to give up. I was going to get up
from my side of the table, lean over and whisper
in his ear.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yet I told Mark that story.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
In nineteen gosh, twenty years ago when he was getting
ready for the movie, And that's what shows up in
the movie in Rekovict, because that's what he said when
my dad walked recollect. He did the same thing a
record that Donald Trump did in the Oval Office. No difference,
so there is similarities to what they in fact do.
They do it differently Donald Trump does it as a
(21:12):
New York businessman in your face.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I mean, there's not a New York businessman that.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Isn't like Donald Trump. There is a crazy businessman that
isn't like Donald Trump. There is a Chicago businessman not
like Donald Trump. Roland Reagan from Hollywood in the Midwest.
Donald Trump fighting the people he had to fight in
New York to get building things done, to build buildings.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
It's how he is and had to be to be successful.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
That scene in the movie was so powerful.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I remember sitting in the theater and I think, City,
you really have to see that in the theater too,
because it's just such a powerful having the big screen
up there and watching this all unfold on the big screen.
That scene was so powerful. I remember thinking to myself,
what is it in him that makes him negotiate in
(22:02):
such a strong manner? Because here's a guy who had
a really tough childhood father that had all kinds of issues.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
He comes from Hollywood, not.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Not the guy that America looks at and goes, Okay,
this film star is going to be a great negotiator
on the world stage. But God has different plans for everybody.
Did what is it in him, Like when you were
growing up, what was it that you went, Man, this
guy's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah. I always thought he was great with my dad,
you know.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
And I learned about America seeing the right front seat
of a station wagon on a Saturday morning, right out
to the ranch, regaling me with songs of the Army,
the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coastguard, telling you about
the greatness of America. I learned that eight years old,
seven years old, sitting in the right front seat of
a car, and always thought he was great.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I mean, marine probably looked at him more as president.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
To be honest with you, when he ran for governor,
I was just twenty My first vote was for him,
you know, in nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
To be governor.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Oh he always been just turning that age.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
And to be honest with people asking me, I take
people on tours in the library all the time, and
they always ask me, you know, what were you thinking
back to when he ran for governor, I said, I
was twenty one years old. I was thinking to my
next date, That's what I was thinking, you know. I
was thinking, I hope he wins poet has could be
really nice, you know, but h and like when he
(23:35):
got scorn in at midnight?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
What in nineteen sixty seven, they called me. I was
in gosh.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
I was in up in Lake Tahoe skiing with friends
of mine. I said, you think I've got to come
down from Lake Tahoe for two minutes when you're crazy?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I'm up. Yeah, I'm having a great talking So I
had to really learn this stuff. And what have you?
Speaker 4 (23:56):
I asked, he used to ask marine, you know, tell
me about different a democrat and Republican liberal and conservatives.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You know, hello, I'm just out here talking to Republican women.
I don't know what to say and what have you.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
But Maree's the one really pushed my dad into becoming
a Democrat.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And you go back and you can google this.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
My dad becomes a Democrat within forty eight hours of
General Electric theater being canceled and he's off the air.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Why did that happen?
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Bobby Kenny called the head of General Electric and said,
you've got contracts coming up, and you'd be better served
to find a way to get rid of that guy
speaking about my brother the president and get him off
of television to get those contracts done. And so guess what,
forty eight hours later, Democrat Ronald Reagan is fired, the
(24:47):
show is canceled, and he's without a job. But you
know something else, he has more time on his hands down,
he writes a brand new speech called the Time for Choosing,
which he gives for Barry Goldwater launches a political career
the governorship and president.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
But forty eight hours after going.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Off the air, my sister brow beat him enough he
changed his registration from Democrat to Republicans.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So people always say to me, was it Nancy? It
changed him to a Republican and got him to run
for office.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
I said, no, is Bobby Kennedy did that when he
got him fired from general elector theater and got it canceled.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
What would you think of Bobby Kennedy Junior today?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
That'd be interesting.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
But again my dad was so you know, my dad's
the one who gave I think one of the first talks.
John of Children came to him and said, will you
help us raise money for the library. They said, you know,
all the other libraries have like living presidents and.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
What have you. We don't. So my dad gave a
phenomenal speech. I think he gave it.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Ted Kennedy's town home in Virginia to raise money for
the Kennedy Kennedy Center of the Library, and he did that,
and it's one of the best speeches you'll ever hear
from my dad. You know, he understood the battle, but
he understood when the battle was over, you get on
with it. You shake hands, as you did with tip
O'Neil with shows in the movie Uh with tip O'Neil.
(26:14):
You know, tip O'Neil him disagreed on everything known to
mankind politically, but they found a way to get things
done when they had to.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I think that's been the confusion after seeing Nancy Pelosi
stand up and tear up the speech in the middle
of the State of the Union, all of this negativity.
You've got Bernie Sanders at like you said, at Coachella,
standing up and giving speeches, and this just feels like
politics is trying to take over every part of life.
(26:46):
And really, I mean, I see kids in middle school
talking about politics. I never thought about it. You talk
about your own dad running when you were twenty, and
it wasn't your first thought, because when we were young,
that wasn't that isn't how it was. It wasn't every
every thing you turned on. It wasn't just in your
face all the time. But this generation of young people,
(27:08):
they have politics in their face constantly, and it's not
a joyful situation.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
It's not politics is not joy. Entertainment is joy.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah it where's the entertainment? No, right, where is the
entertainment at this point.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
My family, my son took his kids eyes, got three
nine year old, seven year old and the two year
old to see King of Kings the other day to
get entertainment and get a story and what have you.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
But the agger, it's even our family. Like Patty used
to send me your op ed.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Pieces and when I saw one that I could put
up on my Twitter ex account and not make the
world go crazy, I put up and she would thank me.
And then a year ago she sent me when I
thought was really good, I put it up and I
let her know I just put it up on X
and she you got to get down.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
You got the guy. I can't have one of my
pieces on as it's owned by the Musk. You can't
do that. I said, well, I'm not taking it time.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
You're going like, why are you so up? Why are
you so upset? Why they can't even have a conversation.
It's just they're mad and they're angry and they don't
calm down. And that's that's what's really sad about this
whole thing. But you know, my dad, and I've said
this so many times, my dad had four children, two
(28:28):
from Jane. I was adopted in the family. Best decision
they ever made, and the where I met the other kids,
the best decision they ever made. But I was adopted
into the family. So you have Mareen and I with Jane,
and you have Patty and Ron with Nancy. And you know,
Marie and I are more conservative and Patty and ronn
(28:49):
A are not. But you know something, Thanks Jimmy dinner,
we're all at the same table. We're all at the
same table. Even though he had two children, he led
a march on Washington when he was president, brought the
people in who co marched with her.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
He invited him into the Oval office. She wrote books
about her mother, you know, the hatreds for her mom
and all that stuff. But you know, so.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
He still had them a Thanksgiving dinner. They were still there.
And that's the difference between people talk about my father.
Then if you're going to talk about my father, really
look at my father. The deep deepened my father's soul
and who he was. He didn't he didn't cancel people
because he disagreed with them. He invited them in. That's
(29:41):
how he's able to ultimate make a decision with Mikile
Gorbacheffer get together with You know, all these people who
were against him for so.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Many years, and his own children who'd love him to death.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
But the fact is he didn't get angry because they
came out against him. He embraced them. And if we're
going to solve the pro in America, we have to
learn to embrace each other. You want to follow wrong
the Reagan's rules, those are wrong with the Reagan's rules.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Stick around. We've got more coming up with Michael Reagan.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
After this, but first I want to talk to you
about my newest partners at Ease Total Health. Do you
remember when President Trump said Obamacare sucks? Will President Trump
also said I don't want to terminate Obamacare, I want
to replace it with much better healthcare. We can all
agree with President Trump that Obamacare has been horrible. Obamacare
is a total disaster with its overpriced premiums and sky
(30:30):
high deductibles. But today is a New Day, and now
you can replace your overpriced, lousy Obamacare with Ease for Everyone,
the only group plan that any adult in the United
States is now eligible to join. Listen as we compare
Ease for Everyone to Obamacare. With Ease, you get a
monthly cost as low as two hundred and sixty two dollars.
(30:50):
You get free unlimited prescriptions. Ninety three percent of all
drugs covered are available at no extra cost, including insulin
with huge savings brand names, free, unlimited virtual primary care,
unlimited urgent care for a thirty dollars copay, generous cash
back reimbursements for emergency room visits and ambulance transportation doctor visits.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
You can have affordable.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Healthcare for as as two hundred and sixty two dollars
a month. Today visit easefoeveryone dot com slash tutor and
joined today. That's easy for everyone. Dot com slash tutor.
Now stay tuned. We've got more after this. I think
that's been the most shocking reaction from legislators in Michigan
(31:36):
to Gretchen Whitmer being in the Oval office. It's like
ban her. She broke the rule. She wasn't allowed to
do that. How could she go against us like this?
And how do you expect to get anywhere if you
can't sit down together? And like I said, I am
not the person to come out and defend Gretchen Whitmer,
but the reaction to it has been shocking that there.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Is this divide.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
There is a wall you do not cross line you
cannot stick your toe across or else that party will
just eat you alive.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
And it's unreasonable.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
It is, it's absolutely unreasonable, and that you can't find
you know, you can't find common ground or anything.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
They don't want to find common ground.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
There is no common ground right long yours as long
as as long as you are a Trump's supporter, there
is no common ground.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Now.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
We don't want him to succeed. We do not want
him to succeed. We want him to fail because we're
going to do what what's your message? We want him
to fail so we can and they never.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Have the we can answer, right, right, that's what they've
been looking for now for a while. Well, before I
let you go, we've talked a lot about your dad,
But I want to ask, what would your mom think
of Hollywood today?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
You would she would turn she really would turn away
from what Hollywood's done. See.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
You know, she was such a gracious, wonderful woman, and
she would she would be appalled by it that they
did issues back in the day. But she never played
in those she never played those games. She did her work,
you know, and and she did it well.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
They referred to her as one take Wyman, one take Wyman,
which is really tough.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
If you're working with her on set. Don't come in
for a second take, and god forbid a third take,
because she took that very seriously.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
You know, here's here's a woman who was left a
doorstep of a neighbor, went through foster care, basically had
a tough childhood growing up, and and put it put
it all together. And Maury and I we were lucky
to have her. You know, we're the only two people
ever raised in a family, born into a family where
(33:50):
the father would go on to become president and the
mother would go on to become a.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Commy Award with the actress.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
And and the night that I went to the Grammins
and we saw the movie Reagan, I walked out with
Dennis and others to the out front because my mom's
hand puts and footprints and they're at Grandma's Chinese in
the ground and we looked at that. So it was
a great memory for my mom. I'm lucky to be
(34:18):
where I'm at. You know, I've done a lot of
things myself in my life. But I'm not ready to
celebrate my fiftieth anniversary with my wife in November, and
we're going to get remarried at the same church and
my mom and dad got married in back in the forties.
And I have two great kids, Cameron Ashley. Ashley's about
(34:40):
ready to get birth to her child, my first child,
and Cameron's got three of his own. So I'm blessed
with my family. I'm married a midwestern's farm girl who
keeps me grounded.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Those Midwestern where else, they're good.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
And my mother loved her. My mother thought she was great.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
That's so awesome. That is such a great story. And
your mom what a glamorous woman. I was looking at
pictures of her today, really so beautiful. And I'm sure
that that idea of Hollywood and glamour and taking you
someplace that you never could have imagined was so real
for her. And to see how that has changed and
(35:22):
taking away the glamour. It's unfortunate. She was a beautiful woman.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
It is sad that that glamor's been taken away. And
I don't know when it comes back, but we need
to get it back. Everywhere we knew we need to
do rosary sitting in a chair praying for Ronald Reagan
moment which we don't have today.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
I mean it's funny because I love movies and my
mom is such a movie nut. When I was a kid,
we went to the movies every weekend and sometimes twice
a weekend, and there were always new movies coming out,
and was always just like that way you went, you
went into the theater, you just got to take into
another place. And I remember every time it was the
Academy Awards, we sat as a family. We watched and
(36:05):
we listened to every speech and they were all these
speeches about loving your family and how they were so positive.
It was all opportunity. And that's what I think, going
back to a space where you just hear positive lessons,
you hear positive messages, that's what this country wants.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
It wants that, it.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Wants that we were getting it with one candidate in
the last election. Yeah, one cat was in fact giving
us that. And you know it's my dad.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
You know, both he and the president now both shot
I would be assassin. What did they do? They came
back stronger. What did my dad do?
Speaker 4 (36:44):
My dad forgave John Hickley before he went back to
the White House hope.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
John Paul gets shot.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
A couple of months later, he forgives his would be
assassin before he goes back to resume his pop duties,
and the.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
Two of them ultimately get together not long after that
and form a phenomenal bond that brings peace to poland
wraps it around and ends up bringing down the Berlin Wall.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
I mean, it has been such a joy to talk
to you and hear all these stories about your father.
He did so much for everyone in this country and
people around the world. He honestly deserves all of the
love and all of the praise that he gets, and
I'm so glad that you were willing to share so
much with us, And even the side of how challenging
it is for the family when someone runs. I think
(37:30):
that's something that people don't hear very often, the side
where it affects generations to come, and even your children
have been affected by it, but I'm just so grateful
you came on today, Michael Reagan, thank you so much
for joining me.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Thank me, thank you, absolutely, thank you all for joining
us on the Tutor Dix of Podcasts. For this episode
and others.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Go to Tutor Dickson podcast dot com, the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and join
us next time.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Have a blessed day.
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Today, I have with
me the eldest son of former President Ronald Reagan, Michael Reagan. Michael,
thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good to begger getting older.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey, it's always good to be getting older, right, That's
what people don't realize.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
It is good to be getting older.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
But you have had quite a special life with your
dad being the President of the United States, and I
think he started running for office when you were twenty, right, gosh, I.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Was twenty years old. But remember I had a mother.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
For good, I had a mom. You know. It's really
hisstuy up.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Until my dad gave the speech A Time for Choosing
back in nineteen sixty four, I was Jane Wyman's son.
And then my dad gave the speech A Time for Choosing,
and literally overnight I became Ronald Reagan's son.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
That's so funny because I want to talk about both worlds,
because today people oftentimes call Washington, d C. The Hollywood
for ugly people, because people have become like really obsessed
with themselves. But you got to see a different I
think you probably saw a different side of Hollywood than
we know today, right, oh yeah, much.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Different side of Hollywood, you know than you see today.
Not they didn't have activists, didn't have you know, the
liberals in there and communism in there.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
What happened with my dad.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Thought back basically in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties.
You know, a lot of actors don't realize that it
was my dad who gave them health care insurance. It
was my dad who gave them residuals. They didn't have
residuals up until that point in time. And to show
you why the Reagan was, I mean, I go, are
you crazy?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Dad?
Speaker 4 (01:39):
When he wrote the bill and signed it to give
residuals to actors, he wrote himself out of it because
he didn't want people to think that he only passed
his bill through SAG so that when his career was over.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
He would have a way to make a living, so
he didn't get residuals.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And you're why people love him because he was about
the people.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Oh yeah, he truly was. And it was never about him.
It was about people around him and what have you,
And whether you were a friend of his or your
a family member. You know, he really treated people pretty
well equally. He told stories. And as a good friend
of mine, Bill Clark, Judge Bill Clark said, years ago
(02:25):
and a great friend of my father's, I said, you know,
your father spoke to us in parables, and you really
think about it, you go back and listen to his speeches.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
He did.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
He spoke to us in parables, He told us a story,
and he prayed to God afterwards.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You got it.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Was it like that growing up? I mean, was he
like that as a father too?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Always a lesson? You know, if he took me to
the ranch, which he took me every Saturday morning, go
out to the ranch and shoot ground squirrels in the afternoon,
the lesson wasn't shooting straight. The lesson was to wait
for these little damn things to pop their heads out
of the ground. And if you didn't get the shot
the first time, you.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Had to sit and wait and wait wait until it
would pop up again. So the lesson there was patience.
And that's just what he did, you know, with members
of the family.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And you know, you look back at that point, I.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Went, like, Dad, just let me shoot the damn squirrel.
But then later on you look back and say, oh,
he was teaching me a lesson.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And I think that's kind of how I mean.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I would say, even today, Democrats are starting to talk
about him that way, which I find fascinating because I
think the first the first time Trump ran in twenty sixteen,
I didn't get that strong love of your father from
the Democrats. But now this time, I mean, even Alissa
Slotkin is saying, well, he's not Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
And I'm like, what do you do You now love
Ronald Reagan?
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Well, yeah, interesting enough, I said, on so many occasions
I might written about the fact they love Ronald Reagan
the day we buried him. Up until that point in time,
he was at war with the media and what have you,
and some of them, Sam and others came to be believers.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
In Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
But again it was always a battle. And people talk
about what's going on today. Well, you know, back in
my day, the time of my dad, it was ABCNBC
and CBS. But they were all talking about him. They're
all negative. They're all saying he was a racist. They're
all saying he was going to stop social Security, they're
all saying he was going to start a war. They
(04:30):
were saying the same things back then on three channels
where today they're saying on every channel, if you will,
and there's so many.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And there's so many, and there's so many other ways
for people to say all the social media, and everybody
thinks they're a journalist, and everybody's going out and they're
all attacking, and it's very tough. But you said something
at the beginning that you were Jane wyman Son before
you were Ronald Reagan's son.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
And I think that's if you've watched.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
The movie, and I'm sure you watched the movie of
your father's life at the beginning. So it's fascinating from
my perspective because as a viewer, I'm watching that and
I'm like, man, he was in a situation where his
wife was really famous and she was a really great actress,
and he was an okay actor. You know, he wasn't
(05:15):
the one in the spotlight. But there has to be
a security in that lifestyle, and there has to be
kind of like an allure to that lifestyle. For him
to step out and run for governor would have been challenging.
But also he had the name IDs, So what tell
us a little bit about what that was like from
the perspective of family.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
I remember He was the first president elected who had
been divorced, no, probably been divorced. So that was a
real big issue, you know, during the campaign, but it
was interually after the We saw the movie at the
Grammin's here in Hollywood. And I've known market everybody for
twenty years. I'll be telling them stories for twenty years.
So and a lot of those stories showed.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Up in the movie. But they came the actor he said,
do we treat your mother? Okay? Was that all right?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
I said, let me tell you something. I said, my
dad gave a speech during the nineteen eighties, and I
called my mom on the phone. I said, Mom, did
you see Dad's speech tonight? She said no, I said
you didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Why?
Speaker 4 (06:16):
She said I didn't like it in nineteen thirties, Why
would I.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Like it today? And I said, you got her absolutely
honor present. Correct.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
She didn't like politics, she didn't like it at all,
and she didn't liked being dragged into these things. But
yet she voted for him twice. She didn't say a word.
What was great about my mom? And which doesn't happen anymore.
My mom was offered. I can't tell you how many
books to write during my father's presidential life about Ronald Reagan,
(06:48):
negative books offered a lot of money her contract she
had without and Crest simply said, I will not ask
answer any questions about my former her husband. If that
question is asked, I will simply get up from the
table or chair and walk away.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I'm not going to do that. And she's never said.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
A word about my father, her former husband, until the
day we buried my dad at the library, and then
she said some wonderful I get choked up wonderful worries
about my dad. And that's the kind of woman she was,
and that doesn't exist anymore in Hollywood, and that's really sad.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Such leadership she showed, and what you could be like.
And it's not like that at all. She was terrific.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
I am the way I am because my mom. I
am the way I am politically because of my father,
because I never knew my mother's politics. I never asked
her who she voted for, never talked politics for my
mom at all, except for that one phone call. What
do you think of Dad's speech? Didn't like it nineteen.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Thirty or forties? Why would I like it today?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
But it is really hard on family members and she probably.
I think that's the ugly side that people don't get
to see that your life is on display, whether you
want it to be or not. If you are the spouse,
if you are the ex, no matter what, they're going
after you. They're trying to get information on you, and
they're trying to break your family apart. And I can't
(08:13):
imagine what it was like because you mentioned he's the
first person to be elected president who was divorced and.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Had young kids. So at that time you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Have these forces in these three major media corporations that
are just trying to destroy you, because that's really what
it is. It's not news. They're trying to destroy you.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I couldn't find a.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Job after my dad became president of United States. Nobody
wanted to hire me. They thought I was going to
be the next Billy Carter, and the media was after me.
The ANLA pulled two or three search wards on my
house looking for information to use. I guess my father
in the nineteen eighty campaign. Yeah, people asked me, why
didn't you ever run? I should ask my wife standing
(08:58):
at the front door watching LA come in and do
a or DA come in and do search warrants on
her house, her privacy. That's like great in many cases
when they walk into the house like that and tear
everything apart. And I said, I'll go out and speak
and write articles, but I'm not going to run and
allow my family to go through what we went through
then at that point. So I always create jobs for
(09:22):
myself because nobody would hire me. And that's how I
got back into boat racing, doing fundraising for different charitable causes,
setting five world records in nineteen eighties with a powerboat
raising million and a half two million dollars for cistic fibrosis,
the Olympic Committee and all of those things.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
But they're all fundraising events because I said, if I'm
going to get.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Into something, I need to do something to raise money
for different charities so the media cannot attack me for me.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
You're so Reagan, You're so right.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Because after I ran for governor here in the state
of Michigan, when I came out, I had one of
the people that supported me say, I want you to
come and interview for a job my company, and the
CEO of the company looked at me and he said,
I can't hire you as an out Republican like you
can't be hired. And that was right after the race,
and I thought, hmm, this could be really bad. And
then another guy said to me, He's like, once you've
(10:14):
run for office, you're you're like toxic. You can't and
that for you, you never ran. It was your dad
that because and that's that's the destructive force that I
don't think people realize. And that's the kind of behind
the scenes that I wanted people to understand, is that
when you do this and you offer yourself up to serve,
you are taking your entire family with you. And you
(10:36):
talk about it as being just as ugly back then
as it is now. And I think people oftentimes go, gosh,
you know, it's so bad now. You see what happened
to Governor Shapiro, which was horrible. You see the violence,
and I think that maybe on the level of exposure
of the things that are happening. But your father, they
attempted to assassinate him, They went after him.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean, this is the politic. Hicks is an ugly game.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
It is a game, and it is affected by children.
Cameron and Ashley. Ashley's lost jobs. She's a teacher and
now you know she runs a school. She's a principal,
but getting a principal job. She actually signed a contract
to be principal for one school, and within forty eight
hours it was rescinded because they found out Ronald Reagan
was her her grandfather.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Oh my gosh, you're saying me.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
No, same things happened to my son trying to get
jobs because Ronald Reagan is his grandfather.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I mean, people don't see that side of it and
the damage it does.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
So you know, we've been there to kind of help
our kids and they're doing great, but again, this is
what they face in life too. It really trickles down
all the way down, and it's the anger and the
mad I mean, go see the movie Reagan. One of
them several parts of the movie is my dad's shot.
(11:55):
He's in the hospital. He wakes up in the hospital
and who's in the hospital room with him, hipp O'Neil
with his rosary in his hand, praying for my father,
and the two of them pray together for the healing
and my father.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Now, I asked Michel, would that happen today? Would that
happen today? And I think not. I think not, it
would not happen today.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
And I think that's the sad thing about it.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I mean, even this past week you see Gretchen Whitmer
go into the Oval office and obviously she did some
silly things putting.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
The yes, yes, I'm not on your show. Okay, right, I.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Said, I think there are two groups of people that
haven't figured out how Pikaboo works, and that's the toddlers
and Governor Whitmer so doesn't realize that when you put
the folder up, we can still see you. But to
be fair, she was going there to meet with the
president and that enough, that alone was enough for the
Democrats to just eviscerate her. I mean the people that
(12:57):
came out, especially on the state level, that went after her.
How could you negotiate with him?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
How could you?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
I mean, he's the president. What does it come to
if you don't have people that are willing to sit
down together and you can't.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
You can't sit down together. They don't allow it.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
And look with Bill Maher, Bill mar goes and has
you know, dinner with the President of United States. You
say what you want to say about you know what
Bill Marer did and president did and what have you?
Presidenty Graceius.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
But he's being an attacked from where he'd been an
attacked from the left for daring to do that. And
so how do you how do you.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Get together and solve any issues when you've got those
kinds of things going on? And I will tell you,
I mean, you look at Trump, you say what you
want to say about Trump, but he is wide open.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, so wide open. If you don't know Donald Trump
is by now, where have you been where?
Speaker 4 (13:51):
I mean, if you're going to say something about Donald Trump,
you don't think there's gonna be a return, return.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Salvo at that point in time. Uh No, I mean
he is very open.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Cross conferences, bringing people into the Oval Office and Witbert
invited into the Oval office where you saw an executive order?
Has he ever signed executive order by himself in the
middle of the night. There's always meeting in the Oval Office,
and point.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
He does that. So what does she think?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Is she not paying attention to the President United States?
She paid attention enough to say, jeez, I love to
work with you, I appreciate you, I love your terrorists.
Going to help me here in Michigan with a building
of cars and all these other things.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
That's great. But I don't want.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Anybody to know me well, and I can't remember a
time when she was invited by Biden, and that to
me is even more bizarre. Here's a woman who was
so she was literally promised the vice presidency and then
it was rescinded. It went to Kamala Harris after the fact.
I mean, her staff we had heard was actually in
DC looking for homes because they were planning on moving
(14:54):
to be the vice president.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
And then she doesn't.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
I mean, she's never talked about going to the White
House with that I can remember with Joe Biden as president,
but she goes with Donald Trump. And I think you
brought up Bill Maher going there, and I think one
of the things that was very critical that he said
was all of the things that I didn't like about
him were absent when I actually met him.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, isn't that interesting how.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
That works when you've heard terrible things and then you
actually meet the person that's called finding out who they
really are it.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Really is and the fact that.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
There's a way to laugh at himself. And in fact,
Bill Maher brings a whole list of these are the
things you've said about me, and Trump signs it gives
it back to him. Now he's got a signature on it.
So Trump gets it, I mean, and it's like, doesn't
anybody else get it? I mean the reason he's doing well,
he's having fun, right, having fun, and nobody.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Else is having fun. They're angry and you're going why
are you angry?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
I mean you look at Coachella Valley this last weekend,
cell A Valley, Bernie going down there. I mean talking
about in a great weekend, people at Cochella who never
draw a sober breath. Anyway, Coachella at that point done.
I mean you could have put anybody on stage say yeah,
I love like you were great.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I mean seventeen dollars lemonade, which I'm sure with Spike,
and there's a little bit of weed floating around down
there at Gazella. I mean you know.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
So again it's why are you angry? Why are you upset?
And who caused you to be upset? You lied for
four years, You lied about the President United States and
is cognitive ability.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You lied about it for the public and you got
found out.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Stay tuned for more with Michael Reagan. But first let
me tell you about my partners at IFCJ. Israel is
still under attack missile fire has resumed from Israel's enemies,
terrorists who seek the utter death and destruction of Israel.
Here in America, we can't imagine what it's like to
live in constant fear like this, but for the people
of Israel, it's very real, and it's very real every
(16:59):
single day. Please join me and show people of Israel
you'll help protect them in this time of attack and uncertainty.
And one of the best ways to do this is
by giving to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
Your gift today helps provide security essentials like bomb shelters,
flack jackets and bulletproof ESTs, armored security vehicles, ambulances, and
(17:21):
so much more. There's no better time to give than
right now, during the Passover holiday, when we celebrate Israel's
historic deliverance and birth as a nation. Give a special
Passover gift today and help protect the people of Israel.
Call eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's eight
eight eight four eight eight four three two five, or
(17:44):
go online at SUPPORTIFCJ dot org. It's one word, it's
support IFCJ dot org. Ernie had it take it away
from him, I mean, why does he continue to speak
for these people. It's never a fair election on their side,
and they can never say that it wasn't a fair
election on our side because there are plenty of establishment Republicans.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Trump would not have been their first choice.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
But the people chose, the people chose, and the people
chose Donald Trump, and he is president. Now, well, let
me ask you this. A lot of people do compare
your father and Donald Trump. What do you think your
father would think of Donald Trump?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I think my dad.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
You know when I said, Donald Trump in twenty fifteen,
you call me on the phone, I'm running for president
of United States.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
What do you think? I said, I think you'll destroy
the Republican Party. You have another question? Yeah, And so
we talked for a moment.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
He said, well, I didn't know your father, but I
liked your father. Because I liked your father, I like you.
I said, well, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I didn't know your.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Father either, but I liked your father. Because I liked
your father, I like you. And he said, will you
ever come to the White House so we have a
reggae day? Said absolutely, you know, I'll return it.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You come up to the ranch and we'll have a
Trump Day up there. But well, I didn't realize. Then
I wrote up at a piece about this not long
after the election. I said, I didn't realize he had
to break the party to rebuild the party to win
again because it.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Was not in a winning mode, and so I had
him on the back. And so I was right in
twenty fifteen. But I was right when I wrote the
piece and said I didn't realize he had to break
the party to rebuild the party to in fact win
again like he won in November. So, you know, I mean,
there's always gonna be some similarities between them, if you will.
(19:31):
But one thing is they both knew what they both
knew what they wanted. They both you know, and I
wrote up at pieces last week.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
You know, China is his Russia, my Dad's Russia. I mean,
that's how I look at He's.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Dealing with China and she dad had a deal with
Soviet Union, Mikyle Gorbacheff and all the leaders before him.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So similarities, they're how they're handling, they're being tough, they're
being strong. What happened in the Oval office with the
President of Ukraine, I said.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
That was another Ronald Reagan moment, because Ronald Reagan did
the same thing in Rekovic with magow Gorbachev when magau
Gorbachev said.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Hey, you have to give up Sdi or Star Wars,
and my dad said yet and walked away.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
In fact, my dad told me in nineteen seventy six
when he lost, I said, why do you want to
even run for president? He said, for so long I've
watched American president sit down with secretary generals of the
Soviet Union, and Michael, every time we sit down, they
always ask us to give up something to get.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Along with them.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I wanted to be the first president sit down with
a secretary general of the Soviet Union. And while he
was telling me what it was, I was going to
have to give up. I was going to get up
from my side of the table, lean over and whisper
in his ear.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yet I told Mark that story.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
In nineteen gosh, twenty years ago when he was getting
ready for the movie, And that's what shows up in
the movie in Rekovict, because that's what he said when
my dad walked recollect. He did the same thing a
record that Donald Trump did in the Oval Office. No difference,
so there is similarities to what they in fact do.
They do it differently Donald Trump does it as a
(21:12):
New York businessman in your face.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I mean, there's not a New York businessman that.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Isn't like Donald Trump. There is a crazy businessman that
isn't like Donald Trump. There is a Chicago businessman not
like Donald Trump. Roland Reagan from Hollywood in the Midwest.
Donald Trump fighting the people he had to fight in
New York to get building things done, to build buildings.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
It's how he is and had to be to be successful.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
That scene in the movie was so powerful.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I remember sitting in the theater and I think, City,
you really have to see that in the theater too,
because it's just such a powerful having the big screen
up there and watching this all unfold on the big screen.
That scene was so powerful. I remember thinking to myself,
what is it in him that makes him negotiate in
(22:02):
such a strong manner? Because here's a guy who had
a really tough childhood father that had all kinds of issues.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
He comes from Hollywood, not.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Not the guy that America looks at and goes, Okay,
this film star is going to be a great negotiator
on the world stage. But God has different plans for everybody.
Did what is it in him, Like when you were
growing up, what was it that you went, Man, this
guy's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah. I always thought he was great with my dad,
you know.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
And I learned about America seeing the right front seat
of a station wagon on a Saturday morning, right out
to the ranch, regaling me with songs of the Army,
the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coastguard, telling you about
the greatness of America. I learned that eight years old,
seven years old, sitting in the right front seat of
a car, and always thought he was great.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I mean, marine probably looked at him more as president.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
To be honest with you, when he ran for governor,
I was just twenty My first vote was for him,
you know, in nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
To be governor.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Oh he always been just turning that age.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
And to be honest with people asking me, I take
people on tours in the library all the time, and
they always ask me, you know, what were you thinking
back to when he ran for governor, I said, I
was twenty one years old. I was thinking to my
next date, That's what I was thinking, you know. I
was thinking, I hope he wins poet has could be
really nice, you know, but h and like when he
(23:35):
got scorn in at midnight?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
What in nineteen sixty seven, they called me. I was
in gosh.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
I was in up in Lake Tahoe skiing with friends
of mine. I said, you think I've got to come
down from Lake Tahoe for two minutes when you're crazy?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I'm up. Yeah, I'm having a great talking So I
had to really learn this stuff. And what have you?
Speaker 4 (23:56):
I asked, he used to ask marine, you know, tell
me about different a democrat and Republican liberal and conservatives.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You know, hello, I'm just out here talking to Republican women.
I don't know what to say and what have you.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
But Maree's the one really pushed my dad into becoming
a Democrat.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And you go back and you can google this.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
My dad becomes a Democrat within forty eight hours of
General Electric theater being canceled and he's off the air.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Why did that happen?
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Bobby Kenny called the head of General Electric and said,
you've got contracts coming up, and you'd be better served
to find a way to get rid of that guy
speaking about my brother the president and get him off
of television to get those contracts done. And so guess what,
forty eight hours later, Democrat Ronald Reagan is fired, the
(24:47):
show is canceled, and he's without a job. But you
know something else, he has more time on his hands down,
he writes a brand new speech called the Time for Choosing,
which he gives for Barry Goldwater launches a political career
the governorship and president.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
But forty eight hours after going.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Off the air, my sister brow beat him enough he
changed his registration from Democrat to Republicans.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So people always say to me, was it Nancy? It
changed him to a Republican and got him to run
for office.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
I said, no, is Bobby Kennedy did that when he
got him fired from general elector theater and got it canceled.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
What would you think of Bobby Kennedy Junior today?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
That'd be interesting.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
But again my dad was so you know, my dad's
the one who gave I think one of the first talks.
John of Children came to him and said, will you
help us raise money for the library. They said, you know,
all the other libraries have like living presidents and.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
What have you. We don't. So my dad gave a
phenomenal speech. I think he gave it.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Ted Kennedy's town home in Virginia to raise money for
the Kennedy Kennedy Center of the Library, and he did that,
and it's one of the best speeches you'll ever hear
from my dad. You know, he understood the battle, but
he understood when the battle was over, you get on
with it. You shake hands, as you did with tip
O'Neil with shows in the movie Uh with tip O'Neil.
(26:14):
You know, tip O'Neil him disagreed on everything known to
mankind politically, but they found a way to get things
done when they had to.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I think that's been the confusion after seeing Nancy Pelosi
stand up and tear up the speech in the middle
of the State of the Union, all of this negativity.
You've got Bernie Sanders at like you said, at Coachella,
standing up and giving speeches, and this just feels like
politics is trying to take over every part of life.
(26:46):
And really, I mean, I see kids in middle school
talking about politics. I never thought about it. You talk
about your own dad running when you were twenty, and
it wasn't your first thought, because when we were young,
that wasn't that isn't how it was. It wasn't every
every thing you turned on. It wasn't just in your
face all the time. But this generation of young people,
(27:08):
they have politics in their face constantly, and it's not
a joyful situation.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
It's not politics is not joy. Entertainment is joy.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah it where's the entertainment? No, right, where is the
entertainment at this point.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
My family, my son took his kids eyes, got three
nine year old, seven year old and the two year
old to see King of Kings the other day to
get entertainment and get a story and what have you.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
But the agger, it's even our family. Like Patty used
to send me your op ed.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Pieces and when I saw one that I could put
up on my Twitter ex account and not make the
world go crazy, I put up and she would thank me.
And then a year ago she sent me when I
thought was really good, I put it up and I
let her know I just put it up on X
and she you got to get down.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
You got the guy. I can't have one of my
pieces on as it's owned by the Musk. You can't
do that. I said, well, I'm not taking it time.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
You're going like, why are you so up? Why are
you so upset? Why they can't even have a conversation.
It's just they're mad and they're angry and they don't
calm down. And that's that's what's really sad about this
whole thing. But you know, my dad, and I've said
this so many times, my dad had four children, two
(28:28):
from Jane. I was adopted in the family. Best decision
they ever made, and the where I met the other kids,
the best decision they ever made. But I was adopted
into the family. So you have Mareen and I with Jane,
and you have Patty and Ron with Nancy. And you know,
Marie and I are more conservative and Patty and ronn
(28:49):
A are not. But you know something, Thanks Jimmy dinner,
we're all at the same table. We're all at the
same table. Even though he had two children, he led
a march on Washington when he was president, brought the
people in who co marched with her.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
He invited him into the Oval office. She wrote books
about her mother, you know, the hatreds for her mom
and all that stuff. But you know, so.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
He still had them a Thanksgiving dinner. They were still there.
And that's the difference between people talk about my father.
Then if you're going to talk about my father, really
look at my father. The deep deepened my father's soul
and who he was. He didn't he didn't cancel people
because he disagreed with them. He invited them in. That's
(29:41):
how he's able to ultimate make a decision with Mikile
Gorbacheffer get together with You know, all these people who
were against him for so.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Many years, and his own children who'd love him to death.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
But the fact is he didn't get angry because they
came out against him. He embraced them. And if we're
going to solve the pro in America, we have to
learn to embrace each other. You want to follow wrong
the Reagan's rules, those are wrong with the Reagan's rules.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Stick around. We've got more coming up with Michael Reagan.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
After this, but first I want to talk to you
about my newest partners at Ease Total Health. Do you
remember when President Trump said Obamacare sucks? Will President Trump
also said I don't want to terminate Obamacare, I want
to replace it with much better healthcare. We can all
agree with President Trump that Obamacare has been horrible. Obamacare
is a total disaster with its overpriced premiums and sky
(30:30):
high deductibles. But today is a New Day, and now
you can replace your overpriced, lousy Obamacare with Ease for Everyone,
the only group plan that any adult in the United
States is now eligible to join. Listen as we compare
Ease for Everyone to Obamacare. With Ease, you get a
monthly cost as low as two hundred and sixty two dollars.
(30:50):
You get free unlimited prescriptions. Ninety three percent of all
drugs covered are available at no extra cost, including insulin
with huge savings brand names, free, unlimited virtual primary care,
unlimited urgent care for a thirty dollars copay, generous cash
back reimbursements for emergency room visits and ambulance transportation doctor visits.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
You can have affordable.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Healthcare for as as two hundred and sixty two dollars
a month. Today visit easefoeveryone dot com slash tutor and
joined today. That's easy for everyone. Dot com slash tutor.
Now stay tuned. We've got more after this. I think
that's been the most shocking reaction from legislators in Michigan
(31:36):
to Gretchen Whitmer being in the Oval office. It's like
ban her. She broke the rule. She wasn't allowed to
do that. How could she go against us like this?
And how do you expect to get anywhere if you
can't sit down together? And like I said, I am
not the person to come out and defend Gretchen Whitmer,
but the reaction to it has been shocking that there.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Is this divide.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
There is a wall you do not cross line you
cannot stick your toe across or else that party will
just eat you alive.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
And it's unreasonable.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
It is, it's absolutely unreasonable, and that you can't find
you know, you can't find common ground or anything.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
They don't want to find common ground.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
There is no common ground right long yours as long
as as long as you are a Trump's supporter, there
is no common ground.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Now.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
We don't want him to succeed. We do not want
him to succeed. We want him to fail because we're
going to do what what's your message? We want him
to fail so we can and they never.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Have the we can answer, right, right, that's what they've
been looking for now for a while. Well, before I
let you go, we've talked a lot about your dad,
But I want to ask, what would your mom think
of Hollywood today?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
You would she would turn she really would turn away
from what Hollywood's done. See.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
You know, she was such a gracious, wonderful woman, and
she would she would be appalled by it that they
did issues back in the day. But she never played
in those she never played those games. She did her work,
you know, and and she did it well.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
They referred to her as one take Wyman, one take Wyman,
which is really tough.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
If you're working with her on set. Don't come in
for a second take, and god forbid a third take,
because she took that very seriously.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
You know, here's here's a woman who was left a
doorstep of a neighbor, went through foster care, basically had
a tough childhood growing up, and and put it put
it all together. And Maury and I we were lucky
to have her. You know, we're the only two people
ever raised in a family, born into a family where
(33:50):
the father would go on to become president and the
mother would go on to become a.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Commy Award with the actress.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
And and the night that I went to the Grammins
and we saw the movie Reagan, I walked out with
Dennis and others to the out front because my mom's
hand puts and footprints and they're at Grandma's Chinese in
the ground and we looked at that. So it was
a great memory for my mom. I'm lucky to be
(34:18):
where I'm at. You know, I've done a lot of
things myself in my life. But I'm not ready to
celebrate my fiftieth anniversary with my wife in November, and
we're going to get remarried at the same church and
my mom and dad got married in back in the forties.
And I have two great kids, Cameron Ashley. Ashley's about
(34:40):
ready to get birth to her child, my first child,
and Cameron's got three of his own. So I'm blessed
with my family. I'm married a midwestern's farm girl who
keeps me grounded.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Those Midwestern where else, they're good.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
And my mother loved her. My mother thought she was great.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
That's so awesome. That is such a great story. And
your mom what a glamorous woman. I was looking at
pictures of her today, really so beautiful. And I'm sure
that that idea of Hollywood and glamour and taking you
someplace that you never could have imagined was so real
for her. And to see how that has changed and
(35:22):
taking away the glamour. It's unfortunate. She was a beautiful woman.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
It is sad that that glamor's been taken away. And
I don't know when it comes back, but we need
to get it back. Everywhere we knew we need to
do rosary sitting in a chair praying for Ronald Reagan
moment which we don't have today.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
I mean it's funny because I love movies and my
mom is such a movie nut. When I was a kid,
we went to the movies every weekend and sometimes twice
a weekend, and there were always new movies coming out,
and was always just like that way you went, you
went into the theater, you just got to take into
another place. And I remember every time it was the
Academy Awards, we sat as a family. We watched and
(36:05):
we listened to every speech and they were all these
speeches about loving your family and how they were so positive.
It was all opportunity. And that's what I think, going
back to a space where you just hear positive lessons,
you hear positive messages, that's what this country wants.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
It wants that, it.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Wants that we were getting it with one candidate in
the last election. Yeah, one cat was in fact giving
us that. And you know it's my dad.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
You know, both he and the president now both shot
I would be assassin. What did they do? They came
back stronger. What did my dad do?
Speaker 4 (36:44):
My dad forgave John Hickley before he went back to
the White House hope.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
John Paul gets shot.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
A couple of months later, he forgives his would be
assassin before he goes back to resume his pop duties,
and the.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
Two of them ultimately get together not long after that
and form a phenomenal bond that brings peace to poland
wraps it around and ends up bringing down the Berlin Wall.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
I mean, it has been such a joy to talk
to you and hear all these stories about your father.
He did so much for everyone in this country and
people around the world. He honestly deserves all of the
love and all of the praise that he gets, and
I'm so glad that you were willing to share so
much with us, And even the side of how challenging
it is for the family when someone runs. I think
(37:30):
that's something that people don't hear very often, the side
where it affects generations to come, and even your children
have been affected by it, but I'm just so grateful
you came on today, Michael Reagan, thank you so much
for joining me.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Thank me, thank you, absolutely, thank you all for joining
us on the Tutor Dix of Podcasts. For this episode
and others.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Go to Tutor Dickson podcast dot com, the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and join
us next time.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Have a blessed day.
Host
Tudor Dixon
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.