It is amusing – and amazing – to today hear the Left use the example of Reagan as that of a leader who talked to our adversaries. Because in the 80’s he was derided, repeatedly, for refusing to talk to the Soviet leaders. Few indeed today recall that prior to Gorbachev the USSR leadership was changing at an incredible pace, as one aging hard liner after another took power and then died off.

And then the Left went into full fledged hysterics when Reagan met with Gorbachev and refused to take SDI off the table. It was the end! Our best chance had been lost! It was Reagan who first proposed the INF treaty “You get rid of your missiles and we’ll get rid of ours.” And the Soviet response was to scoff. And then less than a year later they came back with the same proposal, acting as it was a wonderful new idea. And then they cheated on it.

Two books, “Victory” and “Operation Rollback” describe the details of Reagan’s “They lose, we win” approach to the Cold War. The Soviets came to the table because the 1980’s version of The Surge worked.