{"id":5673,"date":"2016-01-15T13:31:21","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T17:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=5673"},"modified":"2017-03-29T14:41:48","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T18:41:48","slug":"trump-reagan-shocking-similarities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Reagan3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

President Ronald Reagan in 1985<\/span> [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a>]<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

I have a strange personality characteristic. I can\u2019t stand it when someone is misrepresented, treated unfairly, mischaracterized, subjected to mere irrational rants and emotional outbursts: much of which clearly flow from prejudice. I think it\u2019s partially because I have been subjected to this sort of thing so many times, myself, as a public (and very vocal, unafraid, unashamed) Catholic apologist these past twenty years. If I had a penny for every time this has happened to me, I\u2019d be richer than Donald Trump himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that brings me to this paper. As usual, on my Facebook page, there is much more political conversation than theological. I\u2019d love to talk about the latter all day long, but folks have far less interest in that, than in politics. Not that I don\u2019t like<\/em> discussing politics. I\u2019m actually a political junkie, among many other things. But it\u2019s relatively far down my list of preferences. In any event, I have been drawn into often speaking up for Trump, even though he was my own 11th or 12th choice among all the Republicans running for President. Whatever we think of him, he is most likely at this juncture, to become the GOP nominee, and most Republicans and conservatives agree that the all-important goal is to win this election.<\/span><\/p>\n

My<\/span> earlier post about Trump<\/a> here at Patheos nine days ago was not an advocacy<\/em> piece (if I wanted to do that<\/em> it would<\/span><\/span>\u00a0be for Ted Cruz), but rather, a protest against bad and misguided criticisms of Trump.\u00a0Those are two very different things. But this is often\u00a0misunderstood to be\u00a0arguing that \u201cTrump is the best guy of all!\u201d\u00a0Lots of people don\u2019t make crucial distinctions. It was essentially an exercise in trying to be fair-minded and open-minded (as I always seek to be, or should, if I don\u2019t at times).<\/span><\/p>\n

The following remarks are my replies to rhetoric on my Facebook page from friends of mine, who say things about Trump such as that he is (all direct quotes)\u00a0clueless, crass,\u00a0unprincipled, a man of poor judgment and character,\u00a0completely erratic, a\u00a0man with a lust for power and attention, who can\u2019t be bothered to give a second thought to the most important questions,\u00a0a blowhard,\u00a0a sign (if he wins) that we have already lost the American Republic. Those are some of the nicer<\/em> things said.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, I made some observations about the GOP \u201cEstablishment\u201d the power and influence of which, some of my friends were challenging:<\/span><\/p>\n

The majority expressing itself at present ain\u2019t just Trump, but the combination of all the \u201crenegade\u201d \/ non-\u201cEstablishment\u201d candidates: Trump, Carson (no political experience at all), and Cruz (the ultimate outsider in Washington). The three together have about two-thirds of the polling numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump has the largest plurality, which is usually how it goes in primaries. His numbers are proportionately like Sanders\u2019 numbers, and both of those candidates have the lion\u2019s share of the enthusiasm of the base of each party (big rallies and expressions of high loyalty).<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not controversial that there is such a thing as the GOP Establishment, that almost always gets the candidate they want, by various means (mostly ad money).<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019ve always gotten who they wanted, with the\u00a0exceptions in the last 70 years of Goldwater in \u201964 and Reagan in \u201980. They gave us Nixon, one-term Elder\u00a0Bush, a largely failed W. Bush Presidency, Dole, McCain, and Romney.\u00a0The only truly successful GOP presidency since Eisenhower was Ronald Reagan, and he was the anti-Establishment conservative renegade.<\/span><\/p>\n

So yes, they have held the power to largely determine the outcome of these elections, and with abysmal results, except for Reagan and Elder\u00a0Bush\u2019s first term, where, politically, he more or less had to follow the Gipper\u2019s example and move right (past \u201cvoodoo economics\u201d etc.).<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why as soon as there is something really fresh and different (Trump, Cruz, Carson), the sky is now falling and it is the End of the World as We Know It. It\u2019s because the old decrepit, ultra-hypocritical, spineless GOP Establishment power base is collapsing due to the complete ineptitude of its direction all these years (minus the exception period of 1980-1992 and the short time of the Gingrich Revolution in 1994-1995).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Establishment won last time because the more conservative vote was divided between Gingrich and Santorum. Together, they had a greater share than Romney. I wrote about it extensively four years ago, hoping and praying that the Gingrich\u00a0and Santorum camps would get together and unite somehow against Romney. But that explains how the Establishment got who they wanted yet again.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year,\u00a0it\u2019s a wholesale revolt of the base and more conservative elements of the party, who have had<\/em>\u00a0it with business as usual, kowtowing to the Democrats and getting our butts kicked as a result, and the country continuing to go to hell from the sheer incompetence and corruption of liberal + GOP useful idiot governance.<\/span><\/p>\n

And this\u00a0is why it is hysterical \/ panic \/ whiney \/ pouting time.\u00a0I think it\u2019s fantastic because that is how a constitutional republic is supposed to function, up to and even including non-politicians (like, e.g., George Washington and Eisenhower) in the forefront.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the Ultimate Throw the Bums Out wave election. The public (at least the GOP base) is so fed up with politicians that they would rather have a non-politician with no political experience who will actually do<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0something, than politicians who will do the same old same old\u00a0that is destroying the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I moved on to discussion about Donald Trump in particular:<\/span><\/p>\n

Just what is it in what Trump is saying that is so antithetical to conservative beliefs? I recently provided <\/a>a list of ten of his stated policy positions and no one could show that they were either 1) un-conservative, or 2) not Trump\u2019s positions<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I have said, Trump was about my 9th or 10th choice of the original contendees, and Cruz is my fave now. But if Trump gets it, I vote for him, because politics is largely about pulling together, even though not everyone gets exactly what they want.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Democrats understand this, which is why they keep winning.\u00a0The GOP does not, and so we see folks whining about Trump if he wins, and threatening to take their ball and bat and go home and sit on their hands on election day (thus enabling a Democrat win).<\/span><\/p>\n

Why couldn\u2019t Trump possibly have sincerely moved to the right a bit without people saying he is a liar, unprincipled, etc.? Reagan used to be an FDR Democrat and signed a huge pro-abortion bill as Governor of California. Elder\u00a0Bush used to be a liberal and pro-abort. I used to be a flaming liberal myself back in the 70s! My change was certainly sincere and lasting.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t compare Trump directly to Reagan, as if the former is the quintessential conservative as Reagan is now regarded: I made the comparison only in some respects.\u00a0I agree that Trump is not a true-blue conservative<\/em> (as Rush Limbaugh also casually does). He\u2019s a centrist pragmatist (very typical of hands-on successful businessmen) who leans right on various issues that he is emphasizing in this election process (not all that unlike Romney, McCain, and Elder Bush, not to mention Nixon, as well as Eisenhower and Ford). I happen to believe that he is basically right on most of those issues. He\u2019s not as nuanced or articulate on most, as many of his competitors are, but he has it right.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s a fairly nominal, non-evangelical Protestant, as Reagan was (a member of the Disciples of Christ who rarely attended church), and as Abraham Lincoln was, and a reality TV guy, just as Reagan was an actor. Trump is pulling in disaffected working-class Dems (he polls highest in West Virginia), just as Reagan pulled in the Reagan Democrats, from places like blue collar Macomb County, northwest of Detroit (my hunting grounds).<\/span><\/p>\n

He is polling very high among evangelicals, just as Reagan won that demographic, even though Carter was a \u201cborn-again\u201d Baptist. There was a sense that Carter was ashamed of America and that we needed a big boost of morale, just as Obama is ashamed of America and we need a sea change now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both were 69-years-old and regarded as naive, simpleton dunces and bigots, out-of-touch with the real world. Reagan supposedly hated blacks (whose lot and economic standing he greatly improved) and women, while Trump supposedly hates Muslims, Mexicans, and women (Hillary\u2019s short-lived attacks on him as \u201csexist\u201d: until he brought up Bill Clinton\u2019s abusive womanizing practices).<\/span><\/p>\n

Both ran against guys named Bush, who maintained that they were particularly unfit for the Presidency. Jeb Bush says Trump is of the wrong temperament to be trusted as Commander-in-Chief, while George H. W. Bush ridiculed Reagan as espousing \u201cvoodoo economics\u201d (supply-side economics and tax cuts that were somehow utilized to bring about a huge economic recovery).<\/span><\/p>\n

I just don\u2019t buy the hysteria and doom-and-gloom \/ Chicken Little hand-wringing about Trump.\u00a0Much of politics is about extreme exaggerations of differences between the candidates. That\u2019s part of the game, but I don\u2019t buy a lot of it (as a political junkie for now 35 years).<\/span><\/p>\n

Reagan in 1980 and 1984 ran on basically five issues (now note that this is again a partial analogy, not a complete equation):<\/span><\/p>\n


\n1. Win the Cold War (the leading foreign policy concern) and stop appeasing Iran.
\n2. Cut taxes and regulations and get the economy rolling, post-Carter\u2019s disaster.
\n3. Make government smaller and therefore more competent.
\n4. Build up (and be proud of) the military.
\n5. Morning in America.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nSimilarly, Trump says:<\/span><\/p>\n


\n1. Win the War on Terrorism (the leading foreign policy concern) and stop appeasing Iran.
\n2. Cut taxes and regulations and get the economy rolling, post-Obama\u2019s disaster.
\n3. Make government competent, which usually entails being smaller.
\n4. Build up (and be proud of) the military.
\n5. Make America great again.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nTrump critics\u00a0\/ anti-Trump conservatives see a vast and irreconcilable distance and difference between Trump and their hero Ronald Reagan. I see plenty of similarities (not in every<\/em> respect, but in many<\/em>). Trump never signed a bill as Governor in a huge state, legalizing childkilling. Reagan did that. And that was a mere 13 years, I believe, before he won the presidency.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If folks\u00a0think people can never change at all, that it\u2019s all a big charade, that would mean no conservative or pro-lifer could have supported Reagan for President, nor any Christian accept St. Paul as an apostle and inspired writer of much of the New Testament, since he had just ceased persecuting and killing Christians, including St. Stephen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stay in touch! Like Biblical Evidence for Catholicism on Facebook:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Biblical Evidence for Catholicism<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Ronald Reagan in 1985 [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * I have a strange personality characteristic. I can\u2019t stand it when someone is misrepresented, treated unfairly, mischaracterized, subjected to mere irrational rants and emotional outbursts: much of which clearly flow from prejudice. I think it\u2019s partially because I have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":5674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[1825,1944,1021,1034,1826,1945,1947,1942,1943,1829,1946],"class_list":["post-5673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-ethical-moral-issues","tag-2016-presidential-election","tag-2016-republican-primaries","tag-conservatism","tag-conservative","tag-donald-trump","tag-dr-ben-carson","tag-marco-rubio","tag-reagan","tag-republican-establishment","tag-republican-party","tag-ted-cruz"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anti-Trump conservatives see a vast distance and difference between Trump and Reagan. I see plenty of similarities (not in every respect, but in many).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anti-Trump conservatives see a vast distance and difference between Trump and Reagan. I see plenty of similarities (not in every respect, but in many).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-15T17:31:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-29T18:41:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2016\/01\/Reagan3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"583\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html\",\"name\":\"Trump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-15T17:31:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-29T18:41:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"Anti-Trump conservatives see a vast distance and difference between Trump and Reagan. I see plenty of similarities (not in every respect, but in many).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/\",\"name\":\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\",\"description\":\"Catholic biblical apologetics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\",\"name\":\"Dave Armstrong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Armstrong\"},\"description\":\"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities","description":"Anti-Trump conservatives see a vast distance and difference between Trump and Reagan. I see plenty of similarities (not in every respect, but in many).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities","og_description":"Anti-Trump conservatives see a vast distance and difference between Trump and Reagan. I see plenty of similarities (not in every respect, but in many).","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2016-01-15T17:31:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-29T18:41:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":583,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2016\/01\/Reagan3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html","name":"Trump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-15T17:31:21+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-29T18:41:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"Anti-Trump conservatives see a vast distance and difference between Trump and Reagan. I see plenty of similarities (not in every respect, but in many).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/trump-reagan-shocking-similarities.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump & Reagan: Shocking Similarities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/","name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","description":"Catholic biblical apologetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e","name":"Dave Armstrong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Armstrong"},"description":"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}