Trump's mention of Carlson-Putin talk draws more cheers than Lee Majors' praise for Reagan

PALM BEACH — Donald Trump's mention of Tucker Carlson's interview with Russian leader Vladimir Putin got a far more exuberant response than the tepid reaction to Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors' praise of Ronald Reagan at a "mega" MAGA gala Saturday night.

Trump's mention of the Carlson-Putin discussion last week on X, formerly Twitter, drew loud cheers and applause at the Trumpettes fan club event when he asked the nearly 1,000 attendees gathered at Mar-a-Lago if they had watched it. Earlier, when Majors' recalled meeting Reagan, and touted his "magnetic" personality and policies, the crowd met the characterizations with a muted smattering of applause.

"The first time I met Ronald Reagan, I saw this magnetic charisma about him," Majors said to general disinterest as the attendees continued with conversations and dined on beef Wellington. "He went on to win and serve two terms as governor of California and he called his policy 'Reaganomics.' And it worked."

Trump, Reagan both Republicans. And also diametrically different.

The tenuous lineage between the two Republican presidents was exposed again Sunday when Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, said in an interview she did not think her father would feel at home in today's GOP.

“I don’t think he would … and I don’t see how he would want to be in it,” Davis said in an interview on CNN. “It’s so diametrically opposed to what he believed and to the dignity that he felt that people in government should have.”

The statement got major pushback, and Trump responded on Truth Social on Monday evening writing in capital letters that he "made NATO strong." He again reiterated his point was that the defense treaty's member countries "weren't paying their fair share" and that "they had to PAY UP."

It's not just rhetoric. Trump's GOP is protectionist where Reagan promoted free trade policies. Most importantly, Reagan was an ardent Cold War hawk who virulently opposed Moscow's domination of Eastern Europe. And Reagan signed an immigration reform law that granted legal status to millions of undocumented people, which is a toxic position in Trump's MAGA movement.

On Saturday afternoon, Trump said during a rally speech that he would not invoke NATO's defense of a European ally he deemed "delinquent" payments and intimated he would "encourage" an adversary, such as Russia, "to do whatever the hell they want" a position Reagan excoriated during his political career as appeasement.

Trump to Taylor Swift: Don't be disloyal. And I like your bf though he may be a "Liberal"

There has been tension between Trump and the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Institute as well.

The organization's "Time for Choosing" speaker series has featured some of Trump's sharpest critics, including former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who was vice chair of the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee.

Trump has sniped that former Reagan aide Fred Ryan, who served as chairman of The Washington Post, also led the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Last year, Ryan started the Center on Public Civility launched by the Reagan foundation.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Carlson-Putin talk draws more cheers than Reagan at Mar-a-Lago gala