{"id":2012698,"date":"2023-08-26T01:52:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T05:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-in-first-debate-a-shadow-war-between-establishment-reaganism-and-insurgent-trumpism\/"},"modified":"2023-08-26T01:55:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T05:55:39","slug":"in-depth-in-first-debate-a-shadow-war-between-establishment-reaganism-and-insurgent-trumpism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-in-first-debate-a-shadow-war-between-establishment-reaganism-and-insurgent-trumpism\/","title":{"rendered":"First Debate: Establishment Reaganism vs Insurgent Trumpism"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fin-depth-in-first-debate-a-shadow-war-between-establishment-reaganism-and-insurgent-trumpism%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2012698&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<h2>Why \u2063Republicans Still Admire\u200b Ronald Reagan<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s not hard to understand why so many Republicans\u2064 admire Ronald Reagan. &#8220;The Great Communicator&#8221; sparked a conservative revival that fractured the remnants of the left-wing New Deal coalition. As president, he \u2064helped end\u2063 the\u2063 Soviet Union, winning the Cold War.<\/p>\n<p>Forty-three years \u200cafter the Reagan Revolution, and\u2064 eight years after former\u2062 President Donald J. \u2062Trump changed \u2063the\u2062 game again, none of the Republicans who convened for\u2062 the first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-democrats-and-joe-biden-caused-the-border-crisis\/\" title=\"How Democrats And Joe Biden Caused The Border Crisis\">presidential primary debate<\/a> on\u200c Aug. 23 repudiated President Reagan. Even President Trump cited a move by President Reagan as precedent for his decision\u200d to skip the debate.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/trump-skipping-republican-debate-didnt-affect-his-support-according-to-poll-5480921\">Trump Skipping Republican Debate Didn&#8217;t \u2064Affect\u200c His Support, According to Poll<\/a><br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">8\/25\/2023<\/span>\n      <\/li>\n<li>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/haley-ramaswamy-desantis-gain-support-following-first-gop-debate-poll-5480685\">Haley, Ramaswamy, DeSantis Gain Support Following First GOP Debate: Poll<\/a><br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">8\/25\/2023<\/span>\n      <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Neither Fox News nor the\u200b Republican National Committee, cohosts of the media-heavy event,\u200c seem to have lost \u2064any love \u2064for \u2063the icon of 1980s America.<\/p>\n<p>Moderator \u200dBrett Baier&#8217;s final \u200dquestion\u200d to the candidates referenced President Reagan&#8217;s frequent declaration that the United States\u2064 is a &#8220;shining city on a \u200chill&#8221;\u2013an \u200dimage from the Book\u2063 of Matthew, first used to evoke American exceptionalism during Puritan times.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2064use of a quotation from President Reagan rather than, say, \u2062President Trump \u2063could signal\u2062 the GOP&#8217;s hopes \u2063of achieving \u2063a little distance from their\u200c last and now\u2063 embattled standard-bearer.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s\u2064 not all. The \u2062second\u200c 2023 debate, like the second debate in 2015, will take place at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.<\/p>\n<p>The calendar may read &#8220;2023,&#8221; but \u2063for many \u2063in the GOP, President Reagan\u2063 reigns like it&#8217;s the\u200b 1980s.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Morning in America&#8217; or &#8216;American \u200dCarnage&#8217;?<\/h2>\n<p>In \u200cone memorable exchange, Mr. Ramaswamy \u2062referenced President \u200cReagan&#8217;s &#8220;Morning in America&#8221;\u2063 1984 reelection ad in\u200b order to criticize Vice \u2062President Pence. The former vice president had \u200cchallenged his opponent&#8217;s frequent\u200d &#8220;national identity \u200ccrisis&#8221; rhetoric, arguing that \u200bAmericans are &#8220;not looking for a new\u200b national identity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The American people are the most \u2062faith-filled, freedom-loving, idealistic, hard-working people the world has ever known. We just need government as good as our \u200bpeople,&#8221; Vice President Pence\u2063 said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is not &#8216;Morning in America.&#8217; We live in a dark moment, and\u200b we have to\u2062 confront the fact that we&#8217;re in an internal,\u2063 sort of cold cultural civil \u200bwar,&#8221; Mr. Ramaswamy retorted.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Former Vice President Mike Pence waves after\u2062 addressing \u2062the GOP Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in Manchester, N.H., on \u2063June \u20623, 2021. (Scott Eisen\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>That back-and-forth reflected a deeper conflict between residual Reaganism and Trumpism; Mr. Ramaswamy\u200c and, to a lesser extent,\u200c Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis served \u200cas proxies\u200b for the latter in Milwaukee, with Mr. DeSantis also not shying away from\u200d dark rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;Morning in America&#8217; conjures optimism \u2064and a \u200c525 electoral college vote consensus. Conversely, Trump\u2019s &#8216;American carnage&#8217; makes them wince \u2063because it\u2062 demands a\u200d reckoning \u2063with American decline and confirms that we \u200dare slogging through \u2063a divisive and \u200bprofoundly dark time,&#8221; Mr. Wold told The Epoch\u200b Times, referring to the much-discussed &#8220;American carnage&#8221; line in Mr. Trump&#8217;s 2017 inauguration \u200dspeech.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Ingrassia said that, aside from Mr.\u200b Ramaswamy, &#8220;the other candidates appeared pigheadedly stuck in the 1980s, particularly Mike Pence, who seems congenitally incapable\u200d of coming\u200c to terms with the present crisis.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mike Pence saying that we&#8217;re coming upon another Reagan-esque era is just\u200d totally wrong,&#8221; said Angela \u2063McArdle, chair of the Libertarian National Committee,\u2063 in an interview with The Epoch\u2063 Times.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would love to\u200c see a return to the optimism and excitement of the &#8217;80s and economic prosperity. I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;re there,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<h2>Foreign Policy a Big \u2062Differentiator<\/h2>\n<p>While Mr. Ramaswamy&#8217;s Trump-like rhetoric set him apart\u200d from some others at the \u2062debate, it was on foreign policy that his departure from Reaganism, if \u200dnot all of President Reagan&#8217;s actual policies, became most apparent.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to\u200b Mr. Ramaswamy&#8217;s opposition to continued \u200dsupport for \u200bUkraine, a view in line with President\u2063 Trump&#8217;s stance, Mr. Pence declared that &#8220;the Reagan Doctrine made it clear\u2014we said, if you&#8217;re\u2063 willing to\u200c fight the communists on your soil, we&#8217;ll give you the means to fight them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Vice\u2064 President Pence, \u200dI have a newsflash: the\u200b USSR does not\u2062 exist anymore,&#8221; Mr. Ramaswamy shot \u2062back.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Ramaswamy \u200balso sparred with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley regarding America&#8217;s place in the world.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.N. Ambassador \u2062Nikki Haley participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted \u200bby FOX News at the\u200d Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., on\u2063 Aug. 23, 2023. (Win McNamee \/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;You have no foreign policy experience,&#8221;\u200c said Ms. Haley, who served as United Nations\u2062 ambassador under President Trump.<\/p>\n<p>She said Mr. Ramaswamy &#8220;wants to hand Ukraine to Russia,&#8221; &#8220;wants to let China eat Taiwan,&#8221; and &#8220;wants to go and stop funding Israel.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not\u2064 that Israel needs America, America needs Israel,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Ramaswamy said \u200bhe&#8217;d work with Israel to\u200b prevent Iran from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-march-to-appeasement\/\" title=\"The March to Appeasement\">acquiring nuclear weapons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You know\u200c what I love about Israel?\u200d I love their border policies. I love their tough-on-crime policies.\u200d I love that they have a national identity and an Iron Dome to protect their homeland,&#8221; he told the former Trump \u2063administration official.<\/p>\n<p>Libertarian Ms. McArdle said Israel &#8220;is a country that seems\u2064 to be\u2062 doing just fine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know why they need foreign \u200caid,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p>She also questioned why the United States might have a \u2063stake in the current Ukraine conflict. Advocates \u2064of continued intervention say it threatens European allies and implicates other key American \u200binterests.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To\u200d the\u2062 extent that we do have any interest over \u200dthere, it&#8217;s probably something along the lines of covering up \u200csome embarrassing gaffes that happened\u2064 there over the\u200b last 10 years,&#8221; \u2064Ms. McArdle \u200cadded, \u2063noting the Bidens&#8217; Burisma connections, alleged\u200c money laundering, and an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-in-first-debate-a-shadow-war-between-establishment-reaganism-and-insurgent-trumpism\/\" title=\"First Debate: Establishment Reaganism vs Insurgent Trumpism\">alleged biological weapons \u2062programs run<\/a> \u200dby the United States.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Maidan Revolution and regime change\u2014I\u2062 think we&#8217;re going to find the United\u200d States&#8217; fingerprints all over \u2062a lot\u2063 of\u200d it,&#8221; \u2063she added.<\/p>\n<p>She contrasted Mr. Ramaswamy \u2063with the more hawkish Vice President Pence and Ms. Haley: &#8220;These \u2063guys seem like they&#8217;re running for global dictator, not President of the \u200cUnited States.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Vivek stood out most of all on foreign policy: a zero-tolerance stance on further aiding the Ukraine, which \u2064is but the latest installment in the Globalist American Empire\u2019s \u2018perpetual wars for perpetual peace\u2019 credo\u200d that\u200b it has been marching along to ever \u200dsince the advent of\u200b the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-biden-admin-considering-using-private-firms-to-conduct-warrantless-surveillance-of-u-s-citizens\/\" title=\"CNN: Biden Admin Considering Using Private Firms To Conduct Warrantless Surveillance Of U.S. Citizens\">national security state<\/a> and creation of the modern intelligence agencies in the\u200c late 1940s,&#8221; Mr. Ingrassia said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Ingrassia claimed\u2062 that Vice President Pence imagines &#8220;the world can be bi-partitioned between\u200c a United States that stands for good and \u2063a communist Russia \u2062that \u2062embodies evil.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The \u200bfact\u2064 that Pence\u2014and\u200b several others on the stage, like Nikki Haley\u2014retains this infantilized worldview is extraordinarily dangerous, and it \u200bis the\u200b reason \u2064why, in large part,\u2063 the Washington establishment has driven\u200d this country closer to World War III\u2014or, at the very \u2063least, nuclear warfare\u2014than any time\u200d since the\u200c start of the \u200dCold War,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>In \u2063contrast to Vice President Pence and his other rivals, Mr.\u2064 Ramaswamy has sought\u200c to link himself with a GOP president from California \u2062that Republicans seem less eager \u200cto embrace, particularly now\u2014Richard Nixon.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Former \u2064President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) gives \u200bthe thumbs up as he\u200c addresses the White House staff upon his resignation as 37th President of \u2062the United States, Washington, Aug. \u200b9, 1974. His son-in-law, David Eisenhower, is with\u2064 him \u2063on the left. (Keystone\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He outlined his \u200dforeign policy vision during a recent\u2064 speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. He said President Nixon&#8217;s diplomacy with China to break up its relationship with the USSR \u2063is a\u2063 model for his own proposed outreach to Russia to sever its alliance with China.<\/p>\n<p>President Nixon, like President Trump, was impeached while in office and resigned with the threat of criminal prosecution \u2064hanging over his\u2062 head. When his former vice president,\u200d Gerald Ford, ascended to the Oval Office, he granted\u200c President Nixon &#8220;a full,\u2062 free, and absolute pardon&#8221; for any offenses he \u2063may have committed as president. President Nixon was neither impeached nor found guilty \u200cof any crimes.<\/p>\n<p>In Milwaukee, Mr. Ramaswamy called upon his competitors\u200b to &#8220;make a commitment that on \u2064day one, you would pardon Donald Trump.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the difference between \u200byou and me. I&#8217;ve actually \u200bgiven pardons,&#8221; Vice President Pence responded, saying that\u2062 &#8220;it usually follows a finding of guilt and contrition by the individual \u200bthat&#8217;s been convicted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If I&#8217;m president of \u2062the United States, we&#8217;ll give fair consideration to any pardon request,&#8221; President Trump&#8217;s former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-than-500k-illegal-immigrants-crossed-southern-border-since-kamala-harris-named-border-czar\/\" title=\"More Than 500K Illegal Immigrants Crossed Southern Border Since Kamala Harris Named \u2018Border Czar\u2019\">vice president continued<\/a>\u200d before\u200d meandering back\u200b down to less challenging terrain\u2013another Reagan \u200breference.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I put my left hand on Ronald\u200b Reagan&#8217;s Bible, I raised my right hand, and I took\u200d an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the\u2064 United States,&#8221; he\u200d said.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Zombie Reaganism&#8217; in Milwaukee<\/h2>\n<p>The \u2063spectacle \u2062of Republicans, even after \u200bPresident Trump, &#8220;wabbling back&#8221; to \u200dthe winning formulas of\u200b decades past even has a name: &#8220;zombie Reaganism.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While conservative writers such as \u2064Rod Dreher have frequently invoked the term in recent years, it may \u200chave first\u200b gained popularity through a satirical video from The\u200b Onion in 2009, &#8220;Zombie Reagan Raised from Grave to Lead GOP.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A regurgitation of\u2064 Reaganism\u2062 is \u200cno better than any number of the 80s\u200b cover bands that frequent dive bars: it satisfies a certain\u2064 nostalgic yearning[,] but there\u2019s something \u200dstatic about the sound and pathetically artificial about the \u200dpresentation,&#8221; Mr. Wold said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today\u2019s\u200d candidates need to offer policies\u200d for today\u2019s challenges. Part of doing that \u2063is accepting \u200cthe mistakes of the Reagan Revolution in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Among President Reagan&#8217;s &#8220;mistakes,&#8221; he cited the amnesty bill\u2063 for several million immigrants\u2063 he signed\u2062 in 1986. He also characterized President Reagan&#8217;s\u2064 choice\u200d of Sandra Day O&#8217;Connor as Supreme Court Justice\u2014the first female to wear the robe\u2014as reflective of his &#8220;emphasis on identity politics&#8221; in crucial appointments.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Justice Sandra Day O&#8217;Connor at the Seneca Women Global Leadership Forum at the National Museum of \u2063Women in the \u2063Arts \u2062in Washington on April\u2062 15, 2015. (Kevin \u2063Wolf\/Seneca Women via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;2016 should\u200b have been the death knell for the Reagan school, which enjoyed a nearly\u200c four-decade reign over the\u2062 conservative movement. However, as we have seen in last night\u2019s debate, this is an ideology that won\u2019t go down easily,&#8221; Mr.\u200b Ingrassia\u2063 said.<\/p>\n<p>While many on the right, particularly in its younger\u200c ranks, have come to oppose &#8220;zombie Reaganism,&#8221; the idea has no shortage of adherents on \u200cthe left.<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, their\u200b characterizations of \u2064President Reagan are uncharitable.<\/p>\n<p>In \u20632009, for example,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s no wonder why Republicans admire Ronald Reagan. As &#8220;The Great Communicator,&#8221; he ignited a conservative resurgence, shattering the remnants of the left-wing New Deal coalition. As president, he played a pivotal role in dismantling the Soviet Union and triumphing in the Cold War. Even after 43 years since the Reagan Revolution, and eight years since Donald J. Trump&#8217;s presidency, his influence remains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":2012699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2012698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2012698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2012699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2012698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2012698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2012698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}