Reposting my comment from my redundant thread (sorry didn’t see this one)

Reagan and Thatcher may have dared to think and say otherwise, but they didn’t really do anything that the Soviet Union didn’t do to itself. USSR also experienced stagflation in the 70s, and then made the unwise decision to go to war against Afghanistan before their oil production started petering out in 1989.

And the USSR never started raising its defense spending in response to the USA until 1988, the 12th Five Year Plan started in 86 was more about infrastructure until the Eastern Bloc started breaking off from the Soviets (because of the oil bust). The idea that Reagan or Thatcher somehow got rid of the USSR by talking sternly at it is mythical.

I mean, “we should never forget that Keynes was gay” is something Gohmert has probably said.