Reaganism and Clintonism fade away

MANY ardent Trumpists like to compare the Republican politician they revere, the one occupying the White House, to another US president who has become a political icon as far as American conservatives and members of the Grand Old Party (GOP) are concerned.

Indeed, opinion polls suggest that most Republicans believe that Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was the embodiment of their party's conservative values - a statesman committed to strong national defence, free-market principles and traditional values, who represented with pride the cherished American symbols of family, community, country, and of course, liberty.

In short, President Reagan made America great again. To use the words of the television commercial that ran during the 1984 presidential campaign when he was running for re-election - "It is morning again in America". He was the former California governor and Hollywood actor who helped end a painful recession and re-energise the American economy, who stood up to America's enemies, and who eventually created the conditions for the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.