The party was not united around Reagan in 1980. After he WON maybe, but not before.
Run a TRUE conservative or we lose again. No more phonies. And if he doesn’t look like he “can win” then support him anyway. Reagan couldn’t win either — until he did.
The article does NOT say party was united behind Reagan. What it claims is Reagan had many RINO opponents who divided the RINO voters.
The GOP didn’t unit around Ronald Reagan until Obama was elected. Prior to that even I remember Republicans talking smack about him and I wasn’t even born when he was President!