Mark Weinberg, who served as special assistant to the president and assistant press secretary in President Ronald Reagan’s White House, has written an essay for The Bulwark in which he says his former boss would want to see President Donald Trump removed from office in the 2020 election were he alive today.
Weinberg argues that he is “convinced Reagan would conclude that Trump should not have a second term,” although he concedes that the former president likely wouldn’t openly campaign for whomever the Democrats nominate this year.
He then explains why Reagan would be appalled by his own party’s behavior in the Trump era.
“One wonders what President Reagan would say today about the Republican party,” he writes. “Under his leadership, it stood for inclusion, civility, human rights, and global leadership against dictatorships. What would he think about a president who is divisive, rude, self-obsessed, and often mean-spirited? How would he feel about a successor who is literally the laughingstock of our allies, has accomplished little legislatively, and is viewed with disdain by many in the military establishment?”
He concludes his essay by saying that Reagan would view today’s Republican Party much as he viewed the Democratic Party of his youth before he felt compelled to switch to the GOP.
“He started his political career as a Democrat but over time became disenchanted with that party’s principles and policies and so switched his registration to the GOP,” he writes. “When asked why he switched, he famously said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic party left me.” Looking at today’s politics, I think Reagan would say that, once again, his political party lost its way, left him, and is no longer worthy of his support.”
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