With Donald Trump having led public opinion polls for the Republican Presidential nomination for six months now, “silly season” is beginning, as we are starting to have Trump compared to former Presidents, when he is not at all like any former President!
The most preposterous is the comparison of Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan.
One does not have to be a Reagan fan, which this blogger most certainly is not, to consider such a comparison totally crazy!
There is no comparison between the two men that makes sense other than that Reagan was considered a long shot for the nomination and the Presidency, as Trump is right now.
But otherwise, there are no similarities, except maybe the fact that both Reagan and Trump were formerly Democrats.
But what advantages did Reagan have?
Reagan had been Governor of California for eight years, while Trump has never been in public office.
Reagan had developed strong conservative convictions, while Trump has no strong beliefs other than his own ambitions.
Reagan was never a narcissist, while Trump is the personification of narcissism.
Reagan was always charming as a person, hard not to like, even if you did not agree with him, while Trump is obnoxious and disgusting as a person.
Reagan was widely read on political principles, while Trump never has any connection to the facts and truth and is a massive liar unseen in modern history.
Reagan set out to unite the nation around nationalism in a safe, civilized manner, while Trump loves to incite his audiences through disgusting examples of racism, nativism, and misogyny.
Reagan never trusted the Soviet Union and avoided praise of Russian leadership, while Trump has endorsed the leadership of Vladimir Putin, and doubts the violations of human rights that are clearly going on in present day Russia.
Reagan promoted immigration reform, while Trump exploits the anti immigrant extremism of much of the Republican Party in 2015.
Reagan was able to unite Republicans around his leadership, while Trump would be unable to unify the party and would be more polarizing in the White House than any President, bar none.
Reagan knew how to conduct diplomacy, and never set out to insult foreign leaders and governments, while Trump revels in insults and bad behavior toward the outside world.
Reagan may have had mental lapses starting to develop in his second term, but Trump is clearly mentally unbalanced now, and would be a danger as to his rhetoric and actions, were he to become President.
So any comparison of Trump and Reagan is purely ridiculous!
I’m not sure I would agree with you that Reagan was not a narcissist. As a former actor, I’m sure he exhibited a great deal of narcissism.
Fred, you have a good point there.
But at least, Reagan was not the boastful, obnoxious narcissist that Trump has always been, rather a “healthy” narcissist! LOL
Speaking of comparisons, Trump is being compared to Biff from Back To The Future. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/new-hampshire-union-leader-compares-trump-biff-back-the-future