The number of people who are trying to equate Donald Trump’s political rise to Ronald Reagan’s is staggering.
Both shared a background in the entertainment industry before becoming candidates, but that is the only true comparison.
In fact, Reagan’s son, Michael says, “If my father were anything like Donald Trump, Nancy never would have married him, let alone vote for him.” Reagan said. “As a Reagan, I’m not gonna support someone who is so demeaning.”
Reagan and Trump’s styles couldn’t be more different.
Both communicate well with their base. The difference in that base is what separates the two.
Reagan was conversational and built trust in his administration even while some things were going on that weren’t exactly above reproach.
One of Reagan’s most memorable moments came after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
“The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives,” Reagan said. “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.”
Can you imagine if that happened under President Trump? Remembering what he said earlier in this campaign about John McCain not being a war hero because he was captured, Trump would probably say, “I don’t think they were heroes. I like astronauts who don’t die.”
Reagan was always prepared and scripted. He didn’t “shoot from the hip” as Trump is prone to do.
One of the best examples of how the Republican voter base has changed in three decades can be seen in the approach to immigration.
Reagan was no hard-liner on immigration. In fact, he signed one bill into law that granted unprecedented amnesty to more than 3 million people who had come into the country illegally.
It has been 29 years since Reagan told Mikail Gorbechev to “tear down that wall” referring to the dividing wall in Berlin between East and West Germany.
Now Trump is telling the people of Mexico he is going to “build that wall” and they are going to pay for it.
The Trump/Reagan comparisons are a product of the surface level analysis that invades today’s media. A caramel apple and a caramel onion look the same on the shelf. But all it takes is one real bite to tell a big difference.
Kent Bush is publisher of Shawnee (Oklahoma) News-Star and can be reached at kent.bush@news-star.com.
