The bit in the bathroom at the end wasn't so much about Reagan. When the deputy was talking about his wife having cancer, and Reagan didn't have an answer for him... I think it demonstrated that some things, like cancer, are beyond anyone's control.
Alternatively, the scene showed that in the midst of the Presidential election, when everyone's eyes were on Reagan and Carter, that people all around were going through their own private hells that had nothing to do with politics.
Aside from that, I had the biggest belly laugh I've had in a long time when the guy told the deputy, "Ask him if Joan Crawford really had crabs."
The line was all the more funny because it came on the heels of a horrific scene in which two different sets of bad guys were blowing each others brains out in a forest.
As for the bathroom scene with Reagan and the deputy, I'm not sure what people expected the Reagan character to do when the man talked about his wife and cancer and the private hells in the world. Reagan was a good leader in real life but he wasn't a minister or a counselor or a psychologist or a man with the answers to everything for everybody. I think the scene was handled about as well as it could have been. Both actors portrayed characters that were nervous in the situation the scene found them in... in the men's room.
Look, I like Fargo. But I have been dreading the Reagan scenes since Reagan was announced as a character in the show this season. The bathroom bit was a slam at Reagan. The very idea that he would stand there with a two tour Vietnam vet and think his role in a movie was the equivalent of that experience made him a buffoon. It was a double slam, since it also was designed to let the audience know that he didn’t fight overseas during the war (without mentioning the fact that he was prevented from doing so due to medical issues).
But, anyone who knows anything about Reagan knows he would not be so completely clueless and thoughtless to treat a veteran in that fashion. It’s simply inconceivable, and it hurt the show.
I will continue to watch and enjoy the show. I hope we’re past most of the Reagan stuff, though.