Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh said Thursday he is “surprised” by the media’s treatment of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who he claims is unworthy of comparisons to former President Ronald Reagan.
Thornburgh was appointed by Reagan in 1988 and continued to serve as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush. In an interview with the left-leaning media watchdog, Media Matters, Thornburgh suggested that Trump has “intimidated” reporters throughout this election cycle.
“I’m really quite surprised that the media has treated him with kind of kid gloves,” Thornburgh said.
“I’ve seen enough media efforts in previous campaigns where they’re able to establish some weaknesses and vulnerabilities in every candidate, and they seem to be somewhat intimidated with Trump,” he added.
According to Thornburgh, who also served as governor of Pennsylvania, voters and pundits who compare the New York billionaire to Reagan are unfamiliar with the two men’s track records.
“I have a tough time drawing an analogy between Reagan and Trump,” he said. “Their backgrounds are totally different: Trump has no experience whatsoever in government, in managing large governmental operations, while Reagan was a two-term elected governor of our largest state, California.”
“Reagan was not anywhere near as combative as Trump is, Reagan was a much more low-key operator,” he added. “He was tough, but not to the point of being rude as Trump has been on several occasions.”
Thornburgh also suggested that Reagan wouldn’t be a fan of Trump if he were still around today.
“I don’t think he’d be very pleased,” he said, adding that “one thing that Ronald Reagan always exhibited was cordiality and affability.”
“He was a very friendly, courteous person — characteristics I do not find in Donald Trump,” Thornburgh noted.
Thornburgh’s comments come one day after Michael Reagan, the former president’s son, said Trump is “no Ronald Reagan.”
“Trump frequently invokes Ronald Reagan’s name to defend his sudden, 180-degree switch from being a life-long, pro-Clinton Democrat to a Reagan Republican,” Reagan wrote in an op-ed for the New Hampshire Union Leader. “Both men did make a switch, but almost all the similarities between the two end there.”
