Michael Reagan invoked one of his father's most famous lines to frame the upcoming election between President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, telling Newsmax on Thursday the country "can't afford another four years" of the incumbent.
Reagan, author, Newsmax columnist and the son of two-term Republican President Ronald Reagan, joined "The Chris Salcedo Show" to ask the rhetorical question his father asked in a debate with Jimmy Carter on Oct. 28, 1980, one that has reverberated in the political spectrum ever since: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"
"This election is really going to hinge on that. And it's going to be interesting to see how it all falls out," Reagan told guest host Lidia Curanaj. "But ultimately it should end up on the economy and what's going on in the world that we live in. Like my dad said in the debate with Jimmy Carter, 'Are you better off today than you were four years ago?' And the answer to every question he asked of Carter at the end of that debate back in 1980, the answer is no; we're not better off in any way or means.
"Whether it's the economy, whether it's on the world stage, whatever it might be, in fact. And we can't afford another four years of Joe Biden being president."
Reagan is out with a book about his father, with insights into the qualities that defined one of the nation's greatest presidents.
"My dad was a leader from the very beginning, a great man, a great father. That's why I wrote the book, 'Lessons My Father Taught Me,' because he taught me a lot of lessons as I went through life, and I hopefully learned enough from him to be able to go forward with his legacy," Reagan said.
Curanaj asked Reagan if his father, who died in 2004, would recognize the country were he alive today.
"I'm glad he's dead, to be honest with you, because I don't think he would recognize it. I don't recognize it," Reagan said. "The world is suffering because the lack of leadership on the world stage, not only the American stage."
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