--- title: Donald Trump Campaign Tension Echoes 'Let Reagan Be Reagan' description: The disagreement between the 2016 candidate's advisers echoes a debate within the Reagan circle in the early 1980s canonical: https://time.com/4308145/donald-trump-ronald-reagan-echo/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-26T18:21:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:43.772Z article:section: History og:title: Donald Trump Campaign Tension Echoes Reagan White House Dynamic og:description: Is this the 2016 candidate's 'Let Reagan Be Reagan' moment? og:url: https://time.com/4308145/donald-trump-ronald-reagan-echo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80f5657d0eb3499f/698890b2196cf46d4303b5b7/trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Campaign Tension Echoes Reagan White House Dynamic twitter:description: Is this the 2016 candidate's 'Let Reagan Be Reagan' moment? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80f5657d0eb3499f/698890b2196cf46d4303b5b7/trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Campaign Tension Echoes Reagan White House Dynamic > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Trump on the Attack [Watch (HLS stream): Trump on the Attack](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VeRjnf0d.m3u8) (2:00)  _Published 2016-04-25. Donald Trump seemed clearly rankled Monday by the decision of rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich to team up against him, spending much of the beginning of his rally in Rhode Island bashing his opponents rather than promoting himself._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 26, 2016 6:21 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at West Chester University in West Chester, Penn., on April 25, 2016. Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at West Chester University in West Chester, Penn., on April 25, 2016. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 26, 2016 6:21 PM UTC Reports on Tuesday [suggested](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-paul-manafort-corey-lewandowski-222430) that Republican candidate Donald Trump is [facing](http://time.com/4307723/why-donald-trump-stopped-acting-presidential/) a particular dilemma within his campaign: keep doing what he’s been doing, or rein in his remarks to seem more “presidential” as the general election season approaches? Within his camp, those two sides are represented by adviser Paul Manafort (who has reassured some Republican donors that Trump would tamp down his act) and campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (who is perhaps best known for [an alleged physical altercation with a reporter](http://time.com/4275043/donald-trump-campaign-manager-charged-battery-reporter/) in March). While Trump’s campaign may be unique, the two sides in this debate have been seen before. In fact, it was Republican idol Ronald Reagan who perhaps best exemplified the opposing forces of presidential-ness and personality. In 1982 and ’83, in the Reagan White House, the more politically minded Manafort side was represented by Chief of Staff James Baker. Meanwhile, National Security Adviser William P. Clark was the Lewandowski of the situation, whose approach was at the time [summed up](http://time.com/vault/issue/1983-08-08/page/36/) with four simple words: “let Reagan be Reagan.” In general, “being Reagan” meant adherence to the President’s harder-line “raw, conservative instincts,” as TIME [put it](http://time.com/vault/issue/1983-08-08/page/36/). [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) Clark and Baker both eventually left those positions—which is perhaps where a lesson for today can be seen. The conflict between pragmatism and conservatism continued to play out for the rest of the Reagan presidency, with or without the men who had once symbolized those two opposing urges. There would always be a group that wanted the President to compromise, and there would be always be a group that saw any compromise as a betrayal. In 1987, [for example](http://time.com/vault/issue/1987-09-14/page/35/), TIME reported that — in the wake of Reagan’s tentative approval of a peace plan for the then-ongoing conflict in Nicaragua — conservative Reagan boosters “complain that the Administration more than ever is filled with mushy compromisers who will not let Reagan be Reagan.” Should Donald Trump make it all the way to the White House in this year’s election, there’s no reason not to predict that same dynamic repeating itself. The idea of letting a candidate be himself is not just about winning an election or keeping speeches on-message. The people who have come to support Trump for the rhetoric he has used thus far would be disappointed by any attempt to back off on his “being himself,” regardless of which Trump is the best representation of his true ideas. And the people who disagree with him but hope to keep his party in power will keep pushing for him to change. ## Transcript I loved it when I heard it. I heard it last night at 11: 30. I was called and they said, sir, Kasich, we call him one for 41. I thought it was 38. [ LAUGH ] He's won one race in 41 states. One, okay. States and islands So I call him now, I have a new nickname for him. One for forty one, very soon it's gonna be one for forty six or seven [ APPLAUSE ] so he's going nowhere. And he keeps talking about how he does with Hillary Clinton. He hasn't had one negative ad yet. When they put in the first negative ad about him, he's gonna collapse like a rock, wait till you see this, boom. [ APPLAUSE ] I don't think he knows. Did you see him? He has a news conference all the time when he's eating. I have never seen a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion. [ APPLAUSE ] I'm always telling my young son, Barron. I'm always with my kids, all of them. I'd say, children, small little bites. Small This guy takes a pancake and he's shoving it in his mouth. It's disgusting. Do you want that for your President? I don't think so. [ APPLAUSE ] I don't think so it's dis, honestly it's disgusting. I watched Cruz this morning and he's all mixed up because he's losing so badly. And when he's under pressure he's like a basket case. So he's stuttering and he's stammering And I watched him and he's saying, I want jobs and I want the economy and I want this and I want that. All stuff that I've been saying for years! And he just started saying it. He doesn't know anything about the economy. He doesn't know anything about jobs. He was a failed senator. He couldn't get anything passed. Nothing. Look at his legislation. He got nothing passed, and now he wants to be. All he is, is a guy that will go down and stand and filibuster for a day or two and the other Senator's all look. When's he getting off the floor, Jim? Guy's a pain in the ****. 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