Fifteen Republicans — asterisk Jim Gilmore wasn’t invited, and Rick Perry’s permanently back on his Texas ranch — will converge on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, for tonight’s debate, in a quest to take back the White House after two terms of a Democratic administration. But on a host of issues, the loudmouth celebrity leading the pack parts ways with St. Ronnie — illuminating the less-than-conventional conservatism of both Republican figureheads.
“He was a Democrat with a liberal bent, and he became a great conservative … a great president, a great leader…. He had a great heart, and I have a great heart,” Donald Trump said of Reagan during a recent appearance on Fox News, in an attempt to shield himself from accusations that he is too liberal to win the Republican nomination.