What if Ronald Reagan had been President on 9/11?

[Phony Moderate]

How would he have handled the situation?

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb bomb Iran!

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

You'd have a president with advanced Alzheimers?

But I doubt his response would have been different to Bush's - maybe a touch more moderate

[Psychic Octopus]

He would've looked at the report, set it down, looked at the sky, looked at a bird, went to the bathroom, and then peacefully slept, unaware of the world around him.

[Bo]

With Alzheimer's, he wouldn't have realized what was occurring and thus wouldn't have cared. Without Alzheimer's, he would have invaded Afghanistan but not Iraq, since he didn't invade Libya when Gadaffi was sponsoring terrorism and unlike Gadaffi, Saddam wasn't killing any Americans. Without an Iraq War, the situation in Afghanistan would have been much more stable and optimistic today due to the greater focus on that war. Reagan would have probably also increased domestic security just like Bush did.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Actually, the salient question isn't whether this is the pre-Alzheimer's Reagan or the post-Alzheimer's Reagan, but whether this the pre-Beiruit Barracks Reagan or the post-Beirut Barracks Reagan.  Most modern Presidents tend to be excessively willing to send troops into harm's way until their policies lead to a major oopsie that could have been avoided.  Kennedy's was the Bay of Pigs, Clinton's was Somalia, Reagan's was Lebanon, LBJ's was Vietnam and Bush 43's was Iraq.  Of course, the scale of these oopsies vary significantly.

[dead0man]

Actually, the salient question isn't whether this is the pre-Alzheimer's Reagan or the post-Alzheimer's Reagan, but whether this the pre-Beiruit Barracks Reagan or the post-Beirut Barracks Reagan.  Most modern Presidents tend to be excessively willing to send troops into harm's way until their policies lead to a major oopsie that could have been avoided.  Kennedy's was the Bay of Pigs, Clinton's was Somalia, Reagan's was Lebanon, LBJ's was Vietnam and Bush 43's was Iraq.  Of course, the scale of these oopsies vary significantly.

Good point.  Can I add that if any of those Presidents had listened to the military (instead of the people or their handlers or the voices in their head) the results of each would have been a lot better?

(possible exception being Kennedy's Bay of Pigs, which was just stupid all around and didn't even concern the mainstream US military)

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Reagan tended to support internal resistance movements rather than send in American troops, so I think he would have first seen how much he could accomplish by supporting the Northern Alliance against the Taliban while sending the CIA to find bin Laden.

[Dr. Cynic]

He'dve sold them arms while he and Nancy looked around for his lost contact lenses and hair dye.