CNN anchor Chris Wallace just put “Reagan” star Dennis Quaid on the spot about his support for former President Donald Trump.
During a new interview for his Max series, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” the veteran journalist tried to make Quaid think about how much today’s MAGA-infused Republican Party strays from President Ronald Reagan’s classic approach to conservative politics.
In a clip previewed by Mediaite on Thursday, Wallace wondered how the actor could square his admiration for the 40th president with his endorsement now of Trump, noting how many claim “there would be no room for Ronald Reagan in Donald Trump’s Republican Party.”
“Well, I really don’t agree with that, in a sense,” said Quaid, who stars as Reagan in the new Cold War-era biopic directed by Sean McNamara.
“Yes, Ronald Reagan was a man of his times,” Quaid said. “And Trump is also, he’s a man of his times. But I do feel that the principles of Ronald Reagan and the principles of Donald J. Trump are very similar.”
Pointing out several cracks in Quaid’s perspective, Wallace reminded the star about the two presidents’ very different approaches to foreign affairs, economics and general decorum.
“Reagan confronted the Russians. He talked, and you in the movie talk, about an ‘evil empire,’” Wallace said. “Trump doesn’t do that.”
He added, “Reagan supported free trade. Trump imposes tariffs. And Reagan’s 11th commandment was thou shall not speak ill of another Republican.”
“I gotta say, I think Reagan would have been appalled by Trump’s behavior,” Wallace contended.
In his response, Quaid said Trump was a changed man when it came to intraparty conflict.
“Well, I do think you see a Trump 2.0 here as far as the Republican Party and him getting along that this time around,” the star of “The Parent Trap” added.
“Ronald Reagan was ‘America first,’ I would contend,” Quaid said, before trying to draw parallels between the Reagan era and today.
“The circumstances around that, the issues around the election of 1980 are very similar today,” he said. “You had high inflation, gas prices what they were, we had hostages in the Middle East.
“We were told that we were a nation in decline and felt that malaise that Jimmy Carter himself said that, and very similar issues to what is going on today.”
In May, Quaid declared his support for Trump during an interview on “Piers Morgan Uncensored.”
“People might call him an asshole, but he’s my asshole,” the actor proclaimed.
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