The Real Reason Conservatives Are Rethinking Ronald Reagan | Presidents Series | Michael Knowles

Michael Knowles argues that Reagan's aspirational rhetoric and 1980s policies, such as minimizing illegal immigration or confidently winning the Cold War, are no longer suitable for the current, more severe challenges facing the US. Today's problems, like 20 million illegal immigrants with associated crime and fentanyl, and legitimate threats from China, Russia, and Iran, demand a 'tougher' and 'different' approach than Reagan's 'halcyon era' style.

Knowles states, 'Ronald Reagan could minimize illegal immigration in the 1980s when there were relatively few of them and it wasn't a big problem. When you have like 20 million of them with face tattoos bringing in fentinel killing 75,000 Americans a year, this is a different situation and you need to get a little bit tougher.' He also notes, 'We're no longer the unchallenged global hegeimon... Now you have China legitimately threatening our interests. You have Russia... legitimately threatening our interests. You have Iran legitimately threatening our interests. You have to speak a little bit differently.'

Reagan, once valorized, is now subject to a 'correction' on the right, partly due to his 'naive' decision to sign the 1986 immigration amnesty. He believed Democrats would uphold their end of the deal by securing the border, which never happened, leading to mass illegal immigration.

Knowles explains, 'One of the knocks for Reagan right now is he was so valorized on the right for the last 20 25 years that he became this kind of mythical legendary figure. And so then there was a correction to that... The clearest example being the... mass illegal immigration. Reagan signed the amnesty... because he thought he was dealing with the Democrats in good faith... And he said, "Okay, I'll give an amnesty to this relatively small number of illegals if you close the border." And they said, "Yeah, sure thing, Ron..." And then what happens? They got the amnesty and we never got the secured border.'

Both Reagan and Trump successfully built new political coalitions by appealing to disaffected voters and were highly effective communicators. Reagan, a Hollywood star, and Trump, a reality TV star, both connected with the 'common man' and were perceived as 'cowboys' or 'radicals' by their opponents.

Knowles states, 'Trump in some ways is just Reagan for the 21st century, for better and for worse, you know, he's kind of Reagan on steroids.' He elaborates that Reagan 'had been a Hollywood star... reaches out to people in a way that we didn't see again until Donald Trump who was a big television star, big reality TV star, really reaches out to the common man.' Both were also deal-makers, with Reagan as head of the Screen Actors Guild and Trump as a businessman.

The political environment in Reagan's time featured a greater degree of national consensus, even among opposing parties, on fundamental issues like patriotism, opposing illegal immigration, and the undesirability of abortion. This allowed for a level of bipartisan interaction and agreement that is absent in today's highly polarized climate.

Rubin asks if Democrats 'basically liked the country' and were 'relatively moderate,' to which Knowles agrees, stating that in Eisenhower's time and even up to the 1980s, 'none of those [culture war issues] were up for debate.' He adds, 'the Democrat party at least had to say at least had to pretend that they didn't want illegal immigration, that they opposed abortion... They had to wave the American flag. They wouldn't go to a rally as they would today and wave the the Mexican flag and burn the American flag.'