Patti Davis, the daughter of former President Ronald Reagan, suggested Tuesday that her father would be distraught at the way in which current President Donald Trump is isolating the United States on the world stage.
“I think he would be heartbroken. I think he would be grieving,” Davis told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
“The America that I grew up in, that we all have known, is one that had alliances and was friends with other countries, and it would go to other countries who were in trouble, who were being tyrannized or invaded or otherwise suffering from famines, for example,” she said.
“That’s the America that we know and that we have been bonded with and suddenly that America is no longer that,” Davis continued. “Suddenly, we’re hated in the world.” Trump has caused consternation worldwide with his tariffs and apparent siding with Russia over ally Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion of its neighboring country.
Davis, who actually protested a number of her father’s policies, later drew a sharp distinction between her father’s use of the phrase “Peace through strength” and how Trump is deploying it today.
“We have to define what strength is,” she said. “I don’t think bullying is strength. I don’t think being overly aggressive is strength. Strength is forming alliances, it doesn’t mean that you don’t hold your ground or you don’t take a stand or something like that, but it’s understanding that you need partners in the world.”
Even the far-right can’t believe that complete U.S. isolation is a good thing, she added.
