Democrats took a big conservative turn under Clinton, and have continued that strategy for the last 20+ years. The plan was to get more of the moderate vote. What it really did was allow republicans to go even more conservative.
I think I can say with quite a bit of confidence that Ronald Reagan would be a democrat these days.
1. He was elected due to his hard stance on the cold war, and probably would have taken Russian interference in our elections as an act of war. Obviously that is nowhere even close to Trump's position on the matter.
2. The Clean Air Act vs ???? The republican party platform has pretty much been rolling back environmental regulations as fast as they can.
3. Unions are no longer a real concern for either party, so his hard anti-union stance would be unnecessary
4. He worked to find a bi-partisan solution to fix the Social Security system for the long term. Republicans today are actively trying to find a way to cut social security, including massive cuts proposed by Trump in his 2020 budget proposal.
5. He downplayed hot button issues like abortion, gay rights, and racial integration.
6. He was very anti-drug. Although the republicans are still more of the "anti-drug" party, even they have lost enthusiasm for the war on drugs.
7. He was a huge supporter of free trade. Our president now? Quite the opposite.
8. Reagan was staunchly in favor of the New Deal and was proud that he voted for FDR 4 times. The new deal would be rolled back completely by almost any libertarian or Tea Party republican.
I could go on and on an on.
Except for social issues, the country has shifted right.
Democrats took a turn towards big business under Clinton. I wouldn't necessarily say they took a conservative turn.
I think Reagan probably would've been a Republican, as the guy was, you know, a Republican after-all. And the Republican party still worships the guy like he was some god.
1) the Soviet Union is dead. Russia is basically a giant gas station today. It's a kleptocracy ruled by a gangster and his buddies. Reagan didn't see Russia as the evil empire. He saw the USSR and the spread of communism as evil. USSR dead. Communism no more. And also- he was not elected because of a hard stance on USSR. He was elected because the 1970s were an economic disaster. And how do people vote? Usually with their wallets.
And also- to suggest there was massive Russian interference in the election and that's why Hillary Clinton- one of the most corrupt, most disliked people in the history of politics- lost the election is laughable. I'm sorry but you will get nowhere and fast with me on that. Russigate was nothing but propaganda and bullshit. Years of investigations and the facts have borne this out.
FYI- Donald Trump has been tougher on Russia than Obama in many instances. Trump expelled more Russian diplomats from US soil in his first 18 months than Obama did in 8 years. Trump closed down Russian diplomatic properties in San Fransisco, DC, and NYC. Trump closed the Russian consulate in Seattle. Trump has expanded all of the Obama Russia sanctions and has put on more even tougher sanctions on Russia. Trump has even sold lethal arms to Ukraine- this is something Obama refused to do because he knew it would increase tensions with Russia. Trump made a deal to sell coal and oil to Ukraine. Again...not something Russia- a literal giant gas station of which Ukraine depends on for energy- wants at all. Trump shit talked and trashed NATO and basically publicly shamed European countries into increasing their spending on military and chipping in more to the NATO budget. Trump increased the US military budget by $131 billion. Again- two things Russia can't be thrilled about. At all. How is his attitude again? People need to look at the facts and come with the facts before they throw out blanket statements.
And it really falls on deaf ears when people say Russia interfered with our elections- considering the US gov't and it's CIA have done far worse than simply meddle in elections. Political assassinations, backing military coups that overthrow governments, election rigging. Check, check, check. I find it hysterical that people forget that just a little over 20 years ago under Clinton, the state department and the CIA got Boris Yeltsin elected in Russia. Yeltsin, the drunk useful idiot, was "our guy". Election meddling much. Lol.
You know who actually actively interferes in our elections. A LOT. And to a far stronger degree than any other country in the world and it's not even close and no one says shit about it: Israel. Kinda weird how no one ever says shit about that though.
2) Government regulations are not going to save us from climate change. Innovation in renewable technologies and Nuclear energy might be the only thing that can save us. Trump's roll-backs on the environment were designed to help relaunch coal mining and give oil companies a shot in the arm. Coal isn't coming back, and oil is on the clock. Is he doing a bad job on the environment? Yeah. We're going backwards there. Are people over-playing it with the doom and gloom? Yes.
3) Neither party gives a shit about unions because: globalization via "free trade deals" like NAFTA which are not free trade deals but merely investor rights agreements- and permanent normalized trade relations with China- have basically squeezed labor to the point where it has no recourse. Capital can punish labor by saying OK...bye felicia....we're going to China to replace you.
4) Newsflash: Democrats actively want to cut social security too. And the thing is broken because Democrats and Republicans spent all the damn money in the "trust fund".
5) He just had a don't ask don't tell policy in the military. He basically ignored the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Never tried to do a single thing about the crack epidemic plaguing black communities in inner-cities the 80s.
6) He was so anti-drug- he looked the other way while his CIA worked with the largest cocaine traffickers in the world in order to arm the Contras.
7) He was not a supporter of "free trade". He was a supporter of investor rights agreements. And even in his wildest fantasies and wet dreams Reagan could have never imagined permanent normalized trade relations with China. Trump is actually dead on the money when it comes to "free trade". It's one of the few things he's actually on the money about. Unfortunately he seems more bark than bite here. He didn't go far enough in the agreement with Canada and Mexico- it's basically just NAFTA light, or in his agreement he's still working on with China. He needs to nail China to the cross.
Oh and you do realize that it was Trump pushing for instant direct cash payments- and it was Pelosi- a Democrat- who put the nail in the coffin on that before it got started. Pelosi said nope- have to do means testing and mail checks! And it was Trump pushing for Medicare for All on coronavirus patients without insurance. Hillary Clinton? She tweeted something along the lines of easy answer: reopen the exchanges! Yeah. Open the exchanges when millions lost their jobs. Great idea! Lol. He's been to the left on them on a lot of issues.