Wednesday\u2019s Republican presidential debate will occur in the shadow of former President Ronald Reagan \u2014 making the setting a vivid reminder of how today\u2019s Republicans have in a lot of ways abandoned his legacy.<\/p>\n
Reagan, president from 1981 to 1989, redefined not only the mission of his party, but the mission of the federal government.<\/p>\n
Taxes were cut dramatically. The military was strengthened. The president talked tough and won the Cold War. The role of government as an economic safety net began to erode. Social issues such as abortion rights became prominent federal issues.<\/p>\n
Today, former President Donald Trump, the current 2024 GOP front runner, and his no-compromise allies dominate the party as they promote limited government and social issues.<\/p>\n
Trump is skipping Wednesday\u2019s debate. The debate, which is expected to feature six other candidates, will be moderated by Fox News Media\u2019s Stuart Varney and Dana Perino and Univision\u2019s Ilia Calder\u00f3n. The debate will be held at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. The two-hour debate will begin at 6 P.M. PDT.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s style is hardly the Reagan style. Reagan was a seasoned politician when he took office. He had been active in conservative politics since the late 1940s and governor of California for eight years. He understood that political success meant giving the opposition something and settling for 80% of what he sought.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would explain that we\u2019re not going to get everyone to agree with what we\u2019re saying,\u201d said Sal Russo, a veteran Sacramento-based GOP strategist and aide to Reagan as governor.<\/p>\n
Russo recalled Reagan would explain \u201cYou have to win. You\u2019ve got to pick your issues and not pursue issues doomed to failure. You\u2019ve got to stay with things we can get done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, bitterly divided congressional Republicans are struggling to keep the government funded past Sept. 30 and grapple with abortion policy, issues that are tying up the House and Senate.<\/p>\n
Fading is the 80% rule. Fading is the legacy of Reagan\u2019s tough stand against Russia.<\/p>\n
He was a fierce anti-Communist, famous for telling Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 to \u201ctear down this wall\u201d<\/a> that divided East and West Germany and for pushing a huge defense buildup. Two years later, the wall did come down as the Soviet Union collapsed.<\/p>\n Today, the party is split<\/a> on whether to continue or limit U.S. aid to Ukraine. Trump also said Congress should not approve any aid until federal agencies turn over evidence on President Joe Biden\u2019s family\u2019s business affairs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not very Reaganesque.<\/p>\n \u201cReagan was tough on Russia, won the Cold War and defined Republican foreign policy for a generation,\u201d said GOP strategist Alex Conant. \u201cNow you\u2019re seeing Trump and some populists in the house retreat from that.\u201d<\/p>\n Other cracks in the Reagan legacy are all over Washington. In the House, the intra-party dispute over how severely to cut spending threatens to shut down much of the government Oct. 1, when funding for many agencies runs out.<\/p>\n In the Senate, Republicans are divided about the months-long campaign by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to hold up hundreds of military promotions until the Pentagon changes its abortion policy.<\/p>\n In all these battles, many Republicans are willing to fire away publicly at other Republicans, a clear violation of Reagan\u2019s \u201c11th commandment.\u201d<\/a> He first used it in his 1966 campaign for governor: \u201cThou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has long been willing to blast GOP colleagues who disagree. Lately, members of Congress are doing the same, a practice largely unheard of among members of the same party.<\/p>\n Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., for instance, last week issued a statement <\/a>calling Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, a \u201cworthless speaker.\u201d Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.,<\/a> who threatened to try to oust McCarthy, tweeted the speaker \u201cdeserves all the criticism and more.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no question, though, that one Reagan priority continues to dominate Republican thought: Tax cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Republican Party is the party of not raising your taxes,\u201d said Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform.<\/p>\n His group began asking politicians to sign a no-tax pledge during the 1986 election campaign, and those who did not found themselves bitterly criticized by his influential group.<\/p>\n Nordquist said Reagan set the no-tax standard and it\u2019s been adopted by many Republican-dominated states. One of Reagan\u2019s top priorities after being elected in 1980 was to successfully push a 25%, three-year tax cut that dramatically cut income tax rates.<\/p>\n The cuts, though, were followed by a deep recession and record federal deficits, and in 1982, Congress passed and Reagan signed a tax increase.<\/a> He said at the time it was largely closing tax loopholes.<\/p>\n Reagan regretted that increase, said Craig Shirley, author of several books about Reagan. \u201cHe felt he was sold a bill of goods,\u201d he said, a promise that for every dollar raised, three dollars would be cut from spending. Experts have disagreed <\/a>on whether the cuts were achieved.<\/p>\n The idea of cutting taxes became an immovable pillar of Republican Party philosophy.<\/p>\n When George W. Bush and later Trump became president, one of their first year\u2019s top priorities was a huge tax cut. Today, despite ballooning federal deficits, Congress is unable to increase any taxes thanks to solid GOP opposition.<\/p>\n Remember, said Shirley, Reagan was the leader of the conservative movement. \u201cThe Reagan legacy is not about Reagan. It\u2019s about ideas,\u201d he said. \u201cThose ideas are still alive and well inside the Republican party.\u201d <\/p>\n But there are new wrinkles.<\/p>\n Politics today is more personal.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there is still a Reagan legacy in the Republican party, but the shadow of Trump is muting that legacy somewhat,\u201d said Christian Grose, academic director of the University of Southern California Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also less willingness to find the common ground crucial to Reagan\u2019s successes.<\/p>\n Thanks to television and social media, constituents now are more familiar with their Washington representatives and the lawmakers, in turn, seem less eager to warm to their opponents.<\/p>\n Reagan had spent much of his adult life developing his views, and had a deep bench of conservative intellectuals eager to help. While that infrastructure remains, today\u2019s politics is too often reactive, said Shirley, \u201cmore smitten with media celebrities.\u201d<\/p>\n Wednesday, Republican presidential candidates \u2014 not Trump, who\u2019s skipping the debate as he sits on a huge lead in polls \u2014 will debate literally in Reagan\u2019s shadow. (He\u2019s buried on the library grounds).<\/p>\n They may invoke Reagan, say the experts, but those who remember the former president are unlikely to be reminded of him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a different era,\u201d said North Carolina-based GOP consultant Carter Wrenn.<\/p>\n _____<\/p>\nThe tax cut legacy lives<\/h3>\n
Reagan remembered<\/h3>\n