You have to remember there was no 24 hrs news in 1980.. and the swamp was not as corrupt...
But the GOP hated Reagan also...it was the southern blue dog democrats that got Reagan's tax cuts into law...
Different time two great presidents
Most people only get one good president in there life time
Think about how bad most of them really are..both democrat and republican
The perfect is the enemy of the good. Reagan was a great President, but he still had the craziness in Lebanon, an inability to rein in federal spending, and the appointment of the neocon globalist GHW Bush as VP, who had no base in the Party outside K Street lobbyists and the UN. Trump probably accomplished more in four years but did not have Reagan’s ability to laugh off the hate of the leftists and too often focused on small, inconsequential things that hurt his position. Both of them are easily in the Top Ten best president and stride as giants compared to the Bushes, who are really two of America’s worst presidents. JFK, for instance, despite his personal deficiencies, was a far better president than either Bush - the space program, fiscal restraint, the appointment of a relatively conservative Byron White to the Supreme Court. But JFK’s worst mistake was the same for Reagan - the pick of his vice-president.
“Reagan’s biggest mistake the first George Bush...”
He didn’t really have free choice. Reagan would have liked to have chosen his good friend and fellow governor Paul Laxalt.
Despite having been California governor Reagan was an outsider and not popular with the Republican establishment. In order to guarantee the support of that GOP establishment in the general election Reagan had to let them choose his VP. But I don’t know why he didn’t dump GHWB in 1984 and take Laxalt for his 2nd term.