Monday saw many of Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans express their displeasure at his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom Trump says can’t make an impartial ruling in a lawsuit involving Trump University because of his Mexican heritage. Newt Gingrich called his attacks “inexcusable,” and Paul Ryan said the comments are “based on reasoning I don’t relate to.” But the GOP front-runner also received a rebuff from beyond the grave from one of the most important Republican figureheads of all time: Ronald Reagan.
Okay, so Reagan didn’t actually manifest to dissuade voters from supporting Trump — instead, his son Michael Reagan expressed his doubts about Trump via Twitter. “I will not be voting for Donald Trump tomorrow in the California primary,” he announced. He went on:
Reagan was criticized, but he hit back at detractors. “No one in our family would vote for Trump tomorrow,” he told one user. “He’s an embarrassment.” To another he said, “My father would be saying, ‘I didn’t leave the GOP; the GOP left me.’”
Michael Reagan’s comments are the latest in a long series of anti-Trump remarks; back in January, he told Newsmax that Ronald Reagan would’ve been “absolutely appalled” if Trump were to win the nomination and said he didn’t understand the comparisons many draw between Trump and the late Reagan Sr. “If you look at what he has said and you look at what he’s done over the years, it has nothing to do with conservatism,” he said, referring to Trump.
Of course, there could be other factors at play in Michael Reagan’s dismissal. In a 2004 interview Trump said Nancy Reagan was “never very beautiful,” which probably didn’t endear him to her son.
