For the most part, however, Reagan was a comfortable and self-secure politician. He had a self-deprecating sense of humor, believed in civil discourse, possessed a generous spirit and realized that “compromise” is not a dirty word in politics. In private, he challenged fellow conservatives, saying that liberals accepted partial victories and came back for more. Why couldn’t conservatives do the same? This insight helped Reagan secure many compromises from legislatures and a Congress in which he often lacked the votes.

Reagan didn’t believe the American political system was “rigged,” as Trump asserted in his acceptance speech. When Reagan was campaigning for reelection as governor in 1970, a worker at a plant gate yelled at him: “When are you going to clean up politics?” Reagan answered, “Politics is far more honest than you think.”

Nor did Reagan denigrate, as Trump does, the contributions of immigrants who arrive in the United States without authorization. Trump wants to deport them. In 1986 Reagan proposed and signed into law a bill that provided amnesty to 3 million unauthorized immigrants. Reagan had foreshadowed his intentions during a 1984 presidential debate with Walter Mondale when he said: “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.”