re: #58 Killgore Trout

I was reading up on that yesterday. Here’s Reagan’s speech on South Africa.

He wasn’t in favor of arparthied, he was angling for a controlled transition to free society with minimal violence. I still find it unfathomable that the country transitioned as peacefully as it did. It was a fucking miracle. I also opposed the lifting of sanctions on Libya but it played a large part in bringing down Q’Daffy. I was wrong. I also oppose easing sanctions on Iran but I might be wrong about that. I disagree with Obama but I don’t believe that he’s philosophically supporting Muslim theocracy. It would be an absurd accusation.

What Reagan wanted was a fantasy, that the Afrikaners would choose to end apartheid without any pressure put upon them to do so. He wanted groups like ANC and men like Mandela to have no part in the transition, because Botha was whispering his ear that if America lent legitimacy to such “communist terrorist” groups, then Africa would undergo the same way of revolutionary takeovers that South America had undergone. Like Charles already noted, when push came to shove, Reagan supported apartheid because he saw it as the only viable option.