A CNN contributor defended the entry of businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump into the 2016 presidential race Tuesday, noting that people also mocked former Ronald Reagan when he first ran for president in 1980.
“I would caution everybody,” NY1 anchor Errol Louis said following Trump’s 45-minute campaign announcement. “People said this B-movie actor, Ronald Reagan, was playing opposite a chimpanzee, he couldn’t possibly be a serious candidate for office. And he won the presidency — twice!”
Prior to Reagan’s first term as President of the United States, he served as California’s governor from 1967 to 1975, successfully tackling welfare reform and turning the Golden State’s $194 million budget deficit into a $554 million surplus.
“We exaggerate very little,” the San Francisco Examiner editorialized in 1970, “when we say that [Reagan] has saved the state from bankruptcy.”
Prior to Trump’s campaign announcement Tuesday, he starred in a reality TV show where he and his children fired D-list celebrities from a fake job. His corporations have also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy four times, and his name is attached to at least a dozen failed commercial ventures, including Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump Magazine, Trump Mortgage and Trump University.
Trump currently polls ahead of several declared GOP 2016 candidates, including former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, according to Real Clear Politics polling averages.
“We might get some entertainment. We also might get some education about government,” Louis said.
“Those of us who are big fans of open debate and free speech, we’re getting a gut check,” Louis said, opining that the First Amendment justifies the supposed presidential ambitions of a billionaire plutocrat with zero political experience. “You want free speech? This is what you get.”
