Conventional wisdom tells us that Donald Trump is the antithesis of Ronald Reagan. But in fact, Trump is far closer to Reagan’s brand of conservatism than the Republican congressional leadership is.
At first blush, this seems preposterous. Reagan was a sunny personality, much like his boyhood idol, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Trump is anything but. Reagan used humor to defuse his critics; Trump clearly prefers insults. Reagan spoke often of America’s promise, while Trump speaks more of its decline. Reagan condemned bigots and racists. Trump’s facially evenhanded approach to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, has convinced many that he shares white nationalist beliefs.
Despite these key differences, Trump’s active leadership style and his combination of populism with market economics is far closer to Reagan’s words and deeds than anything House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky offer.
From the moment Trump entered the 2016 presidential race, he ran as a tribune of the forgotten American. Telling blue-collar workers that America’s political and financial elites had abandoned them, he campaigned on populist economics (reverse the North American Free Trade Agreement and Trans-Pacific Partnership, protect entitlements) and populist cultural issues (immigration, guns, political correctness). He combined this with support for certain orthodox GOP ideas, including large tax cuts, deregulation and appointing judicial conservatives to the Supreme Court. This mix enabled him to beat many favored rivals for the GOP nomination and win the general election.
Reagan followed a similar script in his presidential campaigns. He championed populist cultural issues (opposition to forced busing, gun control and the Equal Rights Amendment) and struck to an anti-establishment tone. Saying as early as 1964 that conservatives represented “the forgotten American,” Reagan focused on jobs rather than growth. Even Reagan’s signature market economics struck a populist tone. His tax cuts always gave low- and middle-income taxpayers significant relief, even if that meant he didn’t cut the top rate as much as some wished.
Trump is also arguably closer to Reagan on hot-button issues like entitlements, immigration and trade than the common wisdom recalls. Reagan generally exempted programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from budget cutting — even as the deficit exploded.
Reagan was an adamant free trader, but he never hesitated to impose sanctions on foreign companies if they engaged in unfair practices. His tariffs on Asian motorcycle companies, for example, helped save the American icon Harley-Davidson from bankruptcy.
Reagan also supported amnesty for illegal immigrants — though only as a condition for employer sanctions and other restrictions he believed would stem the flow of what he called economic migration. He believed even America was not so rich that it could take in every person who wanted to sup at its table.