Ronald Reagan was a politician and he proved that if you stuck to conservative principals you would do OK. His only problems came when he trusted a Democrat. He didn’t worry about getting reelected he followed his beliefs and let the chips fall where they may. I’m not completely cynical, we have some good people we just need them to step up and take over.
He was better than most but he did have to make concessions to a democratic congress in order to get their cooperation in his agenda.
So he conceded on spending for their pet projects.
This is where the political process is destined to hurt taxpayers time after time....no one in DC is going to help anyone else unless they get something in return.
That “something” always winds up being at the expense of taxpayers.