Today’s Republican Party is often compared to the one personified by Ronald Reagan. While Reagan’s appeal to limited government and free market principles remains evergreen, the party has nonetheless moved away from many of his values over time. Reagan’s call for a strong national defense and the slogan “peace through strength” have been embraced by much of the GOP today, but there are several issues where the 40th president’s views would likely find no purchase with the modern party, and especially with its leader, Donald Trump.
The two most obvious examples where Reagan and Trump would differ are their stances on immigration and trade. Reagan typically favored providing paths to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, believing that it was not possible to deport everyone and that doing so would be extremely costly. Trump, in contrast, has taken an explicitly anti-immigrant stance and his administration is currently attempting to implement a number of policies to severely restrict legal and illegal immigration.
Reagan was also a great believer in free trade, and viewed it as a nonpartisan issue. He did not believe that all trade agreements were created equal, but he was not opposed to balanced, mutually beneficial partnerships. Trump, on the other hand, has been vocal in his opposition to so-called “bad deals” and has pulled out of or threatened to pull out of several important trade agreements.
Other areas of disagreement can be found in Reagan’s environmental policies, where he viewed protection of natural resources as an important cause, but one which could not place too large an economic burden on the public; Trump, meanwhile, has rolled back or attempted to roll back environmental protections on a number of occasions. This includes his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord, something Reagan would have opposed.
Finally, Reagan was strongly opposed to the use of torture, and conducted himself in foreign policy affairs with great dignity and respect for human rights; Trump, meanwhile, has suggested the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, and has made a habit of insulting other leaders and countries on the world stage.
Overall, it is clear that while it may be edifying to harken back to Reagan as a leader and a statesman, he and the modern Republican Party have moved in very different directions with regards to both policy and tone. The end result is that Reagan’s views on a number of different issues would be out of step with those of President Trump and the modern GOP.