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kentuck

(110,950 posts)
Mon May 15, 2017, 09:27 AM May 2017

Reagan conservatism died with the election of Donald Trump.

Many Republicans are under the illusion that they can return anytime they want to the Reagan philosophy of government. At the moment, they are perfectly content to watch the Democrats run around with their hair on fire. Some have said that their new politics is nothing more than anti-anti-Trump philosophy. They are happy so long as the left is unhappy. There may be some truth to that?

But they have paid a big price for their loyalty to Trump. They have surrendered their loyalty to Ronald Reagan and his brand of small-government conservatism. They gave up without a fight.

No doubt, Republicans in future political races will call themselves "Reagan conservatives" but they cannot return to a home that has been dismantled and destroyed by a tyrant and dictator posing as a Republican. Reagan is dead. And so is his politics.

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Reagan conservatism died with the election of Donald Trump. (Original Post) kentuck May 2017 OP
I always viewed Reagan as dishonest bigtree May 2017 #1
Reagan seemed to be more of a product to market than anything else. kentuck May 2017 #3
The republicans are about to see what 40 years of declaring war against the government will get them Initech May 2017 #2
I disagree... Wounded Bear May 2017 #4
George W Bush destroyed the republican party. shockey80 May 2017 #5

bigtree

(85,915 posts)
1. I always viewed Reagan as dishonest
Mon May 15, 2017, 09:35 AM
May 2017

...his entire economic policy was based on lies, meant to enrich the wealthy at the expense of poor and middle-class benefits, and his foreign policy was an opportunistic, right-wing imperialist mess.

What we're experiencing under Trump is what it would have been like if there was no Democratic party to confront Reagan in Congress and if his conservatism knew no bounds. It's not just Reaganism which is being inflated by this presidency and republican Congress and Senate, it's the full measure of republicanism, itself, it's extremes in full production and action.

kentuck

(110,950 posts)
3. Reagan seemed to be more of a product to market than anything else.
Mon May 15, 2017, 09:38 AM
May 2017

It worked for the Republicans for many years. After Trump, where do they go?

Initech

(99,909 posts)
2. The republicans are about to see what 40 years of declaring war against the government will get them
Mon May 15, 2017, 09:38 AM
May 2017

And it will get them nothing. Hell, it will get them less than nothing. It will be like dividing by zero.

Wounded Bear

(58,436 posts)
4. I disagree...
Mon May 15, 2017, 09:49 AM
May 2017

What we have now is the natural progression that follows from 40 years of worshipping the Reagan mythology.

This is what the anti-Reagan coalition has been warning about of since the 80's. This is "trickle down" economics at its very basic core. The rich get insanely rich, and anybody who lost out on the genetic lottery or can't win the actual lottery is fucked.

This IS the Reagan legacy. Trump was, in many ways, inevitable as long as Reagan was held up on such a high pedestal.

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