Matthew Continetti assesses President Donald Trump’s angry reaction to a recent television commercial.
A voice from the past has shaken President Donald Trump.
When Ontario’s provincial government ran a 60-second ad attacking protectionism during the World Series last week, President Trump was furious. He suspended trade talks with our northern neighbor. He demanded the ad be pulled. And he announced an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian imports “over and above what they are paying now.”
Why the outrage? Trump accused Canada of trying to influence the U.S. Supreme Court, which hears arguments next week on the constitutionality of his “Liberation Day” tariffs. But I suspect Trump was less bothered by the ad’s content than by its narrator: President Ronald Reagan, delivering his April 25, 1987, radio address.
By having Reagan make the case against tariffs, the ad’s creators suggested that the 40th president wouldn’t agree with the 45th and 47th. They implied that Trump is a heretic in the Reaganite faith. They tried to drive a wedge between Trump and the Reagan-loving GOP base. It’s a reminder that not every Republican is a loyal soldier in the trade war—which is a problem. Trump needs Reagan’s legacy to legitimize his own—even as he overtakes the Gipper as the party’s defining figure.
Trump’s relationship with Reagan is complicated. He was closer, personally and politically, to another Republican president: Richard Nixon. …
… Some elements of his presidency—tax cuts, deregulation, originalist judges, American patriotism—echo Reagan’s. Others—wholehearted embrace of tariffs, downgrading human rights and democracy promotion, a hard line on border enforcement and immigration—do not. Nor does Trump’s demeanor resemble Reagan’s. Trump is an agent of retribution, an insult comic. Reagan was all sunshine and good humor.
Yet the two men share certain traits. They both were television stars before entering politics. They both survived assassination attempts. They both were elected to second terms. They both enjoyed tremendous support from the religious right, despite not being regular church attendees. And they both are reviled by the left intelligentsia.
