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" Reagan conspired in the underestimation of his own ability. "
H. W. Brands
Ability
His
Reagan
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" If you put on the military uniform, you're a prima facie hero. Generals are the epitome of that. They're the ones who have been most successful at the soldier's trade. "
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Successful
" In the business arena, the standard rules of morality don't apply. What we're really looking for is efficiency. It doesn't do anyone any good to be nice to the weak. In a certain sense, competition is inefficient. "
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Competition
Looking
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" It's not an exaggeration to say that Texas gets a lot more out of being part of the United States than the United States gets out of having Texas as one of the states. "
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Out
" For Andrew Jackson, politics was very personal. He hated not just the federal debt. He hated debt at all. "
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Debt
Politics
Hated
" Toward the end of the 1964 presidential campaign, Reagan gives a speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater. It was like a screen test for a new career. "
H. W. Brands
End
Career
Test
" He used humor more effectively than any president since Abraham Lincoln. Reagan was not an especially warm person, but he appeared to be. Many people disliked his policies, but almost no one disliked him. "
H. W. Brands
People
Humor
Him
" In the early 19th to the early 20th century, people had a lot of things wrong with them. Doctors didn't know how to fix them, and so they lived with them. "
H. W. Brands
Know
Early
Fix
" With my students, I always have to sell my subject because I know when you're 19, 20 years old, you've got other things on your mind besides American history. What I have to do is make this as compelling as possible. "
H. W. Brands
History
You
American
" When a president doesn't know the policy, it doesn't make for a very effective leader. "
H. W. Brands
Leader
Make
Policy
" President Trump is doing what he can to act decisively. And if there's one thing most people have in mind in distinguishing the business world from the political world is that the CEO of a business can act decisively. "
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World
Political
People
" In modern times, the American military has become more bureaucratised. "
H. W. Brands
Modern
More
American
" Reagan has been deified by the Republican Party, which is odd. The Reagan that modern Republicans revere is not the real Reagan. "
H. W. Brands
Modern
Party
Odd
" When you look at the development of the American presidency, you see that the presidents who have had the greatest impact are the ones who fit their times most successfully. "
H. W. Brands
Impact
Look
American
" The candidate who promises the most has the best chance of winning. "
H. W. Brands
Best
Winning
Promises
" Interest in the Founders has risen and fallen over time, as has admiration for them and their accomplishments. "
H. W. Brands
Time
Fallen
Interest
" America can change its presidents, but the world doesn't change. "
H. W. Brands
America
World
Presidents
" The shelf life of a seventh-year State of the Union address is about five minutes. Presidents can propose stuff. They're probably not likely to get it done. "
H. W. Brands
Minutes
Stuff
Union
" To me, the puzzle of Ronald Reagan is how a comparatively ordinary man, someone with not extraordinary talent, accomplished such extraordinary results. At the age of 50, no one expected that this was going to be the guy who would become, at least in my interpretation, one of the two most important presidents of the 20th century. "
H. W. Brands
Talent
Man
Age
" By the early 1960s, there was a moral consensus on what needed to be done on civil rights. "
H. W. Brands
Rights
Early
Moral
" The president is the one person who potentially could be the unifying figure in the country. And if the president or a presidential candidate basically writes off 40 states, then how in the world do the people in those 40 states feel like they have a stake in that person or that election? "
H. W. Brands
People
World
Feel
" When you tell a story, there are imperatives of structure, of style, of pacing and all of this, that are there simply because you want to make it a good story. When do you introduce your characters? When do you put them onstage, when do you take them off the stage? How do you weave the different threads of the narrative together? "
H. W. Brands
Good
You
Want
" When the Constitution was written in 1787, there was this supposition that American politics would be above party. The people who would staff the positions in government would have the interests of the country, or at least their states and congressional districts, at heart, and so they wouldn't form permanent political parties. "
H. W. Brands
Heart
Politics
Government
" There is a certain kind of sobering, civilizing effect that being president imposes on people. There is a certain kind of dignity with which you comport yourself. As an observer of the presidency, I have to wonder if Trump would follow that pattern. "
H. W. Brands
Dignity
People
Wonder
" A lot of people were ambivalent about Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson in 1964 positioned himself as the peace candidate. Once Johnson sent large amounts of troops into battle in 1965, most Americans were behind the war. "
H. W. Brands
War
Battle
Behind
" The Catalonian movement is quite serious; I don't think it's simply symbolic. I think that they believe that Catalonia can be more successful on its own than as part of Spain. "
H. W. Brands
Think
Successful
Serious
" George W. Bush has shown himself to be a decent guy, not exploiting his former office to make top dollars giving speeches. "
H. W. Brands
Guy
Speeches
Office
" It wasn't the smiling Trump that people elected. It was the frowning, glowering, angry Donald Trump that people elected. "
H. W. Brands
Angry
Smiling
People
" Once you become president, you don't even have to stop for red lights. And if it looks like traffic's too bad, you just take a helicopter. "
H. W. Brands
Bad
You
Traffic
" President Obama ran a campaign in 2008 that was entirely expected from a non-incumbent. You promise, and you imply that if you elect me, everything good is going to happen. "
H. W. Brands
Happen
Me
Everything
" Most presidents have not considered 100 days a significant milepost. "
H. W. Brands
Considered
Days
Most