Posted on 03/19/2016 9:58:11 AM PDT by Rockitz
Ronald Reagan would be familiar with some of the challenges facing Donald Trump lately.
Imagine an establishment-busting presidential candidate rolling up the primaries but polling 20 points behind the presumptive Democratic nominee. The controversial Republican front-runner is considered so radical that the party establishment eyes a brokered convention, perhaps to nominate a failed candidate from the previous election. Sound familiar? Welcome to March 1980.
In retrospect, Ronald Reagan’s presidency seems inevitable, but the prevailing wisdom in the Republican Party 36 years ago was that he was leading the party to certain defeat. Going into the 1980 race, some Republican leaders thought Reagan was too old, too conservative, or too provocative to win the nomination. But the Gipper was clearly popular with the party’s grass roots. Reagan split some early contests with George H.W. Bush, winning New Hampshire and Vermont but losing Iowa and Massachusetts. Then he ran up a string of five victories in the south and Midwest that gave him a commanding delegate lead. By this stage of the game in 1980, it looked like Reagan was unbeatable.
The GOP Establishment was in meltdown over Reagan’s surge. Comparatively moderate candidates like Howard Baker, John Connally, Bob Dole, and Phil Crane dropped out. Liberal Republican Congressman John Anderson of Illinois was hanging on, Kasich-like, having almost won in Massachusetts, and showing strong second-place finishes in Illinois and Vermont. Anderson became something of a press darling and eventually ran as a third-party challenger (another anti-Trump scenario being discussed these days), netting 6.6% of the popular vote.
But the electability question continued to dog Reagan. A series of opinion polls supported the notion that he simply could not win in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Trumpnado in the forecast.
These polls that occurred in 1980....from spring to late fall...often amaze me how wrong they were. You just never hear any analyst or journalist take on the polling data.
I think Trump....if it’s just Hillary in November....probably will take 45 of the fifty states...minimum. If she was pushed out, it might change the expectations.
There is ONE BIG DIFFERENCE between today and 1980:
Back then, the GOPe did manage to get control of Reagan. It was a VERY CLOSE CALL for them, but they prevailed...even to the point of getting Reagan to sign the 1986 Amnesty.
This time they will NEVER get control of Trump...THEY ARE DOOMED.
Trump landslide coming...”
I think so too.
He mocked Linda Grahamnesty into an embarrassing exit, crushed Jeb despite his 10’s of millions, utterly destroyed Rubio in his homestate with Hispanics, and there are still people who think he’ll lose to Hillary?
oh yeah, and the POPE apologized to him...
When the general election is over, Trump will be sitting in the White House and Hillary will be sitting in a padded room curled up in the fetal position.
Establishment GOP and mainstream media opposition to Reagan was so strong it led to a 3rd party “moderate” GOP candidate named John Anderson. He won 7% of the popular vote, which is a lot, but not enough to derail Reagan obviously.
The establishment was so anti-Reagan in 1980 that there was serious talk at the GOP convention of drafting former President Ford to be Reagan’s VP. The idea was that Ford would be sort of a “co-president” to help check Reagan’s “extreme” positions. Reagan’s team actually began negotiations with Ford about this. Of course, the “journalists” of the time hated Reagan, so they referred to the possibility of Ford running as VP as the “dream ticket”. Ford’s conditions were so unacceptable that negotiations broke down and Reagan ultimately chose GHW Bush as VP to help “balance” the ticket. (In retrospect Reagan picking Bush was one of the worst decisions he ever made considering all that came afterwards).
So yes, the GOPe and the left-wing media went to great lengths to demonize and marginalize Reagan in 1980 similar to what they are doing to Trump today.
That’s what I think as well.
The citizens want the invasion stopped.
That Trumps everything.
Re: amnesty in 1986.
To be fair to Reagan he never had a 100% GOP congress. The House remained overwhelmingly Democrap through this presidency and the GOP barely captured a majority of the Senate for a couple of cycles.
Reagan was one of the best presidents of the 20th century but alas he was not perfect.
...... Mr. Trump on the other hand, is a business man who knows how to run a business and will be pretty much learning on the job about Governmental Procedure and the limitations of the position of President and the Constitution once he enters the Whitehouse. He will be heavily relying upon advisors to educate him about his limitations and working of Governmental procedure and the Constitutional limitations of his office.
Funny I remember this all
Per The Establishment GOP and the Press
Reagan was a “cowboy”....a “loose cannon”....
The polls were rigged
Trump is no Ronald Reagan.
“Trump is no Ronald Reagan.”
Likewise Reagan was no Reagan. By the time Reagan left office, he had:
1) Drastically increased Social Security taxes
2) Substantially increased Income taxes
3) Signed into the law this country’s first AMNESTY bill
4) Was in the process of tearing down the military he had worked so hard to build up in his first few years.
5) Shoved Bush-Jr. into the White House
No. Anderson did it on his own. You'd be hard-pressed to find any "Establishment" Republican active in politics who actually endorsed Anderson.
Most of Anderson's votes came from liberal Democrats and independents. In some key states it was more than enough to derail Carter.
The establishment was so anti-Reagan in 1980 that there was serious talk at the GOP convention of drafting former President Ford to be Reagan’s VP. The idea was that Ford would be sort of a “co-president” to help check Reagan’s “extreme” positions.
The fact that Reagan was willing to negotiate with Ford's people, chose Bush as running mate, and picked Jim Baker as Chief of Staff ought to tell you that the "war" between Reagan and the Establishment has been exaggerated.
Reagan had real goals and was able to prioritize them and being people on board who supported his priorities. He didn't get sidetracked by endless factional warfare.
This Reagan election comparison is ridiculous. In the spring of 1980 the country was rallying around the President because of the Iranian hostage crisis. Carter’s ratings were great. Then came the April failed rescue mission, and Carter refusing to campaign while the hostages were held, then Ted Kennedy challenging him, and Carter’s ratings dropped and dropped and dropped. It had a lot more to do with Carter than Reagan.
Trump may win though the polls suggest he won’t. His negatives are far worse than Hillary’s and hers are awful. He needs to score well with Hispanics and women, and he seemed like a candidate particularly designed to not get those voters.
In 1990 Texas Republicans nominated Clayton Williams to run for Governor. He was probably the only Republican in the whole state who could lose to a liberal Democrat Anne Richards, but they nominated him and he lost. Trump reminds me of Claytie. He may be the only one of the 17 candidates running who could lose to Hillary Clinton.
He may win. He’ll more likely lose but either way, spare the 1980 comparisons as that race was dominated by a foreign crisis different from any other election.
Agreed!
What office did George Washington hold before becoming President? Weren’t most of the Founding Fathers farmers?
The big difference is Demographics.
Reagan also came out in support of the Brady gun control bill in 1991 and NAFTA in 1992.
Yeah, like Trump is second coming of Ronald Reagan. Only reveals the ignorance of the Trumpets.
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