On Wednesday, Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis denounced modern-day Republicans for abusing the legacy of her father to defend Donald Trump.
Writing in the Washington Post, Davis admits that while she herself has never been a Republican, the GOP has played an obviously important role in her family's life. "Dear Republican Party," Davis says.
"I have never been part of you, but you have been part of my family for decades."
She calls out Republicans for appropriating what Reagan stood for, yet refusing to speak out against the abuses of the Trump administration.
"You have claimed his legacy, exalted him as an icon of conservatism and used the quotes of his that serve your purpose at any given moment. Yet at this moment in America’s history when the democracy to which my father pledged himself and the Constitution that he swore to uphold, and did faithfully uphold, are being degraded and chipped away at by a sneering, irreverent man who traffics in bullying and dishonesty, you stay silent," Davis writes.
She lists all the atrocious policies the Republican party has refused to denounce, from separating families at the border to hobnobbing with murderous dictators.
"Most egregiously, you remained silent when Trump said there were “very fine people” among the neo-Nazis who marched through an American city with tiki torches, chanting, 'Jews will not replace us.'"
"So, to the Republican Party that holds tightly to my father’s legacy — if you are going to stand silent as America is dismantled and dismembered, as democracy is thrown onto the ash heap of yesterday, shame on you," Davis writes.
"But don’t use my father’s name on the way down."
