"Although Ronald Reagan was somebody I disagreed with on most ideological things, he was a friend of mine, and he was a very, very likable man. Ronald Reagan, for instance, was maybe more able to get the very rich to do the right thing sometimes"
About this Quote
Beatty is doing something unfashionable in modern politics: admitting affection for an ideological opponent without apologizing for it. The first move is disarming candor. “Somebody I disagreed with on most ideological things” signals credibility to a liberal audience that might bristle at any Reagan warmth. Then he pivots to a more intimate claim - “a friend of mine” - and lands on the key cultural currency: likability. Beatty isn’t praising Reagan’s policies; he’s praising Reagan’s social technology.
The subtext is Hollywood’s old power geometry. Reagan, a former actor turned politician, understood the room in a way policy intellectuals often don’t: he could translate moral asks into status-friendly narratives. When Beatty says Reagan was “maybe more able to get the very rich to do the right thing sometimes,” he’s pointing to a paradox: the conservative icon as an effective persuader of elites, precisely because he didn’t sound like he resented them. “The right thing” is left deliberately vague, which is the point. It suggests philanthropy, civic restraint, or occasional compromise - small moral wins achieved through charm rather than coercion.
There’s also a sly critique of Beatty’s own camp. If you want wealthy people to budge, he implies, purity and scolding aren’t always the best tools; relationship-building can outperform righteous certainty. The line reads like a wistful dispatch from an era when personal rapport could still grease the gears of ideology - and when celebrity, politics, and wealth were all speaking a shared language of persuasion.
The subtext is Hollywood’s old power geometry. Reagan, a former actor turned politician, understood the room in a way policy intellectuals often don’t: he could translate moral asks into status-friendly narratives. When Beatty says Reagan was “maybe more able to get the very rich to do the right thing sometimes,” he’s pointing to a paradox: the conservative icon as an effective persuader of elites, precisely because he didn’t sound like he resented them. “The right thing” is left deliberately vague, which is the point. It suggests philanthropy, civic restraint, or occasional compromise - small moral wins achieved through charm rather than coercion.
There’s also a sly critique of Beatty’s own camp. If you want wealthy people to budge, he implies, purity and scolding aren’t always the best tools; relationship-building can outperform righteous certainty. The line reads like a wistful dispatch from an era when personal rapport could still grease the gears of ideology - and when celebrity, politics, and wealth were all speaking a shared language of persuasion.
Quote Details
| Topic | Friendship |
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