Donald Trump cited Ronald Reagan in defending himself this morning against National Review’s “Against Trump” editorial. Appearing on Meet the Press, Trump repeated his criticism that NR “is a failing magazine” and suggested, “They did it because they’ll get nice publicity.”
“I am a conservative,” he continued. ”What I say to people is this, Ronald Reagan; he was a somewhat liberal Democrat and over the years he evolved and became a fairly conservative — not overly — but fairly conservative Republican. Now, he became a great president also.”
“By the way, Ted Cruz has changed his position,” Trump continued. ”He was a very, very — he was very weak on illegal immigration, he was very, very weak on illegal immigration. And now all of a sudden, because of my stance, he got strong.”
“But I use the term ‘Ronald Reagan,’” Trump said. ”And that’s pretty good to me.”
Trump on National Review: Ronald Reagan Wasn’t ‘Overly Conservative,’ Either