Reagan's daughter says her father would not want to be part of today's Republican Party

Patti Davis, daughter of former President Ronald Reagan, believes her father would not want to be part of today’s Republican Party because it is “diametrically opposed to what he believed.”

Davis talked to Jim Acosta

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On CNN, Patti Davis shared with Jim Acosta that her father would not embrace today’s GOP, “I don’t think he would… and I don’t see how he would want to be in it.” Davis elaborated, “It’s so diametrically opposed to what he believed and to the dignity that he felt that people in government should have.”

President Raegan would be “appalled”

Davis mentioned GOP Senator from Oklahoma Markwayne Mullin, who challenged union leader Sean O’Brien to a fight during the Senate hearing. “My father would be appalled at this,” Davis said, adding, “This is not a bar. This is in the Senate chambers.”

“This is the time, this is the place”

The exchange between Mullin and O’Brien went viral. After reading critical social media posts O’Brien had made about him, the GOP Senator told O’Brien, “This is the time, this is the place… If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here.”

State of nation

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Davis further noted that her dad would be “heartbroken and horrified about where America is and how mired we are in anger, in violence, in disrespect for one another.” She added, “I think he would be heartbroken, and I think he would be scared.”

Davis spoke against Trump

Davis spoke to Yahoo News in 2019 and shared that her father would be “horrified” by Trump’s leadership “because he loved this country a lot, and he believed in this country.”

Attacks on the press

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Davis, a former actress, and an author, wrote in the Washington Post op-ed in 2018, “I’ve tried to imagine what my father would have done if people attending a political speech of his had turned to the press and raised their middle fingers, hurled obscenities or physically menaced the reporters who were there doing their jobs.”

It would not happen

Davis shared that she could not picture it because ” It simply wouldn’t have happened.” Davis reminded, “Silence didn’t create this country; brazen, unwavering commitment did,” adding, “And one of those commitments was to a free press — one not controlled or hampered by a demagogue who has a good day only when he’s being flattered.”

Davis’ open letter to Republicans

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In an open letter to Republicans in 2019, Davis said, “You have claimed (my father’s) legacy” yet “at this moment in America’s history when the democracy to which my father pledged himself and the Constitution that he swore to uphold, and did faithfully uphold, are being degraded and chipped away at by a sneering, irreverent man who traffics in bullying and dishonesty, you stay silent.”

The Reagan Library’s feud with Trump

The Reagan Library held numerous Republican events, but in 2023, it became clear the organization and the former GOP president were at war. In April, Trump shared on Truth Social, “When you’re leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile networks with angry Trump & MAGA hitting anchors asking the ‘questions,’ why subject yourself to being libeled and abused? Also, the second debate is being held at the Reagan Library, the chairman of which is, amazingly, Fred Ryan, publisher of the Washington Post. No!”

Paul Ryan hinted at the feud

Paul Ryan, the former House speaker and member of the Reagan Foundation board of trustees, said in 2021 that it was “horrifying to see a presidency come to such a dishonorable and disgraceful end.” While he did not name Trump, the former president slammed him as “RINO” or Republican in name only.

“Spoiled brat in a sandbox”

Politico reported that one trustee called Trump a “spoiled brat in a sandbox.” The same person added, “So many of the things that Trump did, and what he stood for, are just not consistent with the Reagan philosophy.”

Trump, the “Voldemort”

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Another compared Trump to Voldemort and compared the two presidents, “The legacy of Reagan, fair or unfair, right or wrong, was ‘shining city on a hill’ — upbeat and positive and have a beer with Tip O’Neill,” while saying the Trump is the opposite, “He wanted to burn everything to the ground, attack people.”