Michael Reagan, son of late president Ronald Reagan, said Thursday it is possible for Donald Trump to make a full recovery from his latest debate performance and pull out a win in November.
“My father recovered from his first debate against Mondale in 1984. Obama did the same against Romney in 2012,” Reagan wrote in a blog post. “Trump can do the same thing. But like my mother always said to me, ‘Michael, you’ll never learn anything with your mouth open.’ It’s time for the Donald to shut up and start listening.”
The senior Reagan is one of the most revered leaders among conservatives and Republican presidential candidate regularly likened their police views to his while out on the campaign trail, making his son’s advice for Trump ever more sacred to Republicans.
Michael Reagan critiqued Trump’s performance, reiterating political pundits’ statements the billionaire businessman had the edge in the first 25 minutes of the debate when he kept the conversation focused on the economy and national security. Reagan also bashed Trump for then shifting to a topic deep down he did not want to address, but did nevertheless.
“Donald’s main problem was the same one I talked about weeks ago — he doesn’t know when it’s time to just shut up,” Reagan wrote. “What’s worse, as he proved over and over again, he still hasn’t learned how to pivot like a politician.”
Reagan recommended Trump make a self-insinuating joke when asking a hot topic question.
“When Lester Holt asked Trump the Obama birth certificate question — which everyone in North America knew was coming — Donald should have said something like: ‘Glad you asked, Lester. That issue’s settled. President Obama is like Bruce Springsteen. He was born in the USA. Now let’s talk about something that actually matters to voters —- like Secretary Clinton’s deleted emails or her long list of failures in the Middle East,”” Reagan wrote.
Trump now has two more opportunities to prove himself to Americans, specifically that he’s “not as awful, incompetent and stupid as he was Monday,” Reagan said.
