Reagan's Son: Trump's Base Would Pick Putin Over Any Democrat As U.S. President

The son of former President Ronald Reagan  believes Donald Trump ’s political base is so consumed by hatred for the Democrats that they would vote for Vladimir Putin to be America’s president instead of virtually any member of that party.

“They really aren’t in touch with reality. The most important thing to them [is that Trump] seems to hate the same people that they hate,” Ron Reagan told Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hardball”  on Thursday. “That’s the real Trump derangement syndrome.”

On the other hand, they like the people Trump likes, Reagan said. Russian President Putin’s popularity is rising, he noted. 

“If it was left just up to Trump’s base, they would elect Vladimir Putin as president of the United States over virtually anybody with a D after their name,” he added. “If Trump seems to love Putin, they’ll love Putin, too.”

A revved-up Matthews groused that if President Barack Obama had committed an antic like one of Trump’s, he “would have been keelhauled.”

Reagan responded: “You’re absolutely right. No previous president could have gotten away with even a tenth of the things that Donald Trump has.”

Check out the rest in the video above.