Author and columnist Michael Reagan wondered if his father, former president Ronald Reagan would be considered a RINO, and stated of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, “if this keeps going forward, my father may actually say, ‘You know, the party left me. I didn’t leave the party'” on Friday’s “Alan Colmes Show” on Fox News Radio.
Reagan stated that his father wouldn’t be giving the same message as current GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on deporting illegal immigrants in the US, and that Ronald Reagan wouldn’t deport people covered under the DREAM Act. He continued, “what Ronald Reagan would do, is he would call everybody together, and say, ‘Bring out the immigration bill. Let’s look at the areas we agree on. Okay, give me that piece of legislation. I’ll sign it. The things we disagree with, we’ll get together the next time, and we’ll talk about those things.’ You’ve got to work with the other side, I don’t care if you agree or disagree with the other side.”
Reagan added, “it’s like we’re always looking for an enemy,” and that the enemy was previously Communism, and now the enemy “has become the illegals that are in here.” And “I don’t agree with the illegals in here. I think something needs to be done, but you’re not going to round up 11 million people and throw them out of the United States of America –.”
Reagan also said he likes any of the current or former governors among the current GOP presidential field. He specifically addressed the criticisms that Ohio Governor John Kasich and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush weren’t conservative enough, stating, “we find more reasons to throw people under the bus, or off the bus than find ways to bring them in. We don’t look at all the good that they’ve done in their respective states. … You know, if Ronald Reagan were to run today, and you only knew him as governor of the state of California, would he be referred to as a RINO? I mean, he raised taxes, signed an abortion bill, no-fault divorce, and my God, he was a union leader.” And “as president, he signed the amnesty bill. But before that — and that’s what we’re doing anymore, we’re trying to find ways not to support people, than ways to support people. Ronald Reagan had the 80/20 rule. Now, it’s the 100% on my side, or I’m not with you at all. We have to find ways to embrace people and to be inclusive. This party, the Ronald Reagan Republican Party was more inclusive when he was the head of it than, in fact, it is today. Today, it seems to be more of an angry party. I’m sorry, but when you’ve got — when Ann Coulter’s your spokesman on immigration — the fact is, if — you can’t go across this country and find a Hispanic that doesn’t love Ronald Reagan. You can also not go across this country and find a Hispanic that likes the Republican Party, because the only voice they here is, ‘Get the hell out of my country.'”
Reagan did criticize former Arkansas Governor and GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, saying he was running to be “pastor-in-chief,” and that his dad would have followed the law, and that you can’t pick and choose which Supreme Court rulings to follow. He continued, “I think he [Huckabee] said [Dred Scott is still the law of the land], and he also said the Constitution was written — was divinely inspired. I thought that was the Bible. … I — you sit there, and sometimes you just shake your head. And what happens in these — the political realm, he is reaching out to a certain segment, within the conservative movement, Christian movement, that all buys into that, and he’s hoping they show up in Iowa.”
Reagan further commented on Trump, and expressed his concern that if Trump wins the nomination, he would fail to attract support. And that it’s “scary to me” that “somebody who can malign and say the things he says about other Republicans on that stage, and you have people out there who, in fact, support that. My father — at the end of the day, if this keeps going forward, my father may actually say, ‘You know, the party left me. I didn’t leave the party.'”
The discussion then turned to the Democratic side of the presidential race, Reagan commented, “This country right now, needs an elder statesmen, and that is Joe Biden.” He also stated that both parties need an “elder statesman.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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