Believed in maintaining our alliances with NATO, believed in standing up to Russia, believed in Free Trade, believed in preserving government institutions. Didn't encourage political prosecutions or interfere with the DOJ for political purposes.
Also I believe he provided a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Also he believed if you where born here you where a citizen.
He would be called a RINO by the current people in charge of the party.
1) Reagan said that NATO was important but he also said that:
"It will require being smart about the weapons and equipment we develop and buy, so we get the best value for our money. I'm pretty tightfisted myself, so I've been glad to see that NATO is taking efficiency seriously."
So he was asking them to be the major part of paying for it and we would help. Over the decades we have become the major plater of paying for it.
2) Everyone wants to stand up to Russia. Trump has pissed Putin off in the past few weeks, so that narrative of Trump being a Putin puppet is mute.
3) In Reagan's day the trade was much more equal than it is today. BTW, Reagan was heavily scorned by the unions about the free trade issue. I remember tons of cars had bumper stickers on them saying "Buy American."
4) Direct quote from Reagan:
“Yes, deficits are a problem. I've been saying so for more than a quarter of a century now. But the problem is not the size of the deficit, it's the size of government's claim on our economy.”
5) As far as the DOJ, it wasn't used as a weapon against pollical opponents then.
6) Pathway yes. What is pathway (legal means). The border was an issue the Democrats questioned him on back then. They wanted it closed off to perversive jobs. As far as natural born citizens, once again wasn't a problem of the day. That problem came under Bush 2.
So,
NO, he would not be considered a Rino today. Reagan had the ability to speak (Trump does not) to get his message across. He also had a Democrat house and senate that was willing to work and come to bipartisan agreements to bills. Trump (in his defense) does not. Everything is just NO.
I truly disagree with the timing of the Tariffs. It should have been a bill written, sent through the house and senate and in a slow manner implemented. But we all know that nothing would have come of it. Right now, the only people really hurt by this is the top 10% money. They own like 80% of the stock market. I'm not sure this is the way, but if what is being said actually happens like he claims, the middle class are going to have a hay day. But until then, 401's are going to really suck and people who were counting on retiring with a good nest egg are screwed.
