‘Reagan Is Spinning in His Grave’: Former Republican Comms Director Says the Gipper ‘Would Never Win a Primary’ in Today’s GOP

Former Republican Capitol Hill communications director Tara Setmayer said Ronald Reagan wouldn’t stand a chance of winning the GOP presidential nomination these days.

Appearing on Friday’s edition of The ReidOut, Setmayer was asked by guest host Michael Steele about the affinity some Republicans have for far-right world leaders.

“When did we kick Reagan to the curb?” asked Steele, the former head of the Republican National Committee. “Why are we seeing so many Republicans more and more infatuated with the ideology of Vladimir Putin and Victor Orbán and any of the fascists that they find in Europe?”

“I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The party left me,” Setmayer said, echoing Reagan’s famous comment about leaving the Democratic Party, but in reverse. “And once the party started to embrace the Tea Party and then Trumpism and then obviously the malignancy of Trumpism after all of the transgressions of Donald Trump, we’ve seen that the party is unrecognizable now.”

She went on to say Reagan would be toast in a GOP presidential primary because Reagan opposed authoritarianism:

Ronald Reagan is spinning in his grave and he would never win a primary election in today’s Republican Party. Why? Because Ronald Reagan actually stood against fascism and authoritarianism. And today’s Republican Party’s fascination with these authoritarians and fascism is consistent with what they’re doing now.

[…]

And the Republican Party’s such a personality cult now, that they are incapable of course-correcting. They’ve gone down this authoritarian path. There’s no turning back. Every opportunity they’ve had to turn back, they haven’t.

She concluded, “The extremists now are the mainstream.”

Like other American presidents, Reagan opposed some dictators while tolerating, supporting, or even feting others.

Watch above via MSNBC.