Conservative commentator Michael Reagan urged people to stop using the term "RINO" for people they disagree with in the GOP.
Appearing Thursday on
Newsmax TV's "Newsmax Prime," Reagan said he already has been receiving messages on Twitter that former New York Gov. George Pataki, who entered the presidential race earlier in the day, was a RINO, or Republican in name only.
Story continues below video.
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on DIRECTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system — Click Here Now
"We've got to get rid of this, just calling everybody within our own party some kind of a name," said Reagan, son of former President Ronald Reagan.
"I wonder what they think of my father sometimes," Reagan said. "Would he be a RINO because of some of the things that he did as governor or as president of the United States of America?"
Pataki is needed in the race, Reagan said, because he brings something different to the table as a three-term governor of a blue state. Still, he said, it's a crowded field for him.
"He's got to do something … to raise him above the fray," Reagan said.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is doing just that with her campaign of shadowing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, he said.
"Carly's trying to get her name out there," Reagan said. "The only people that really know her are the people here in the state of California. … It was a good place for her to be so people would cover her and she would get some publicity to help her campaign."
Though he likes the diversity of candidates, Reagan admitted that there are so many Republicans running, the conservatives risk splitting the vote and helping someone who is more moderate.
"That doesn't bode well for conservatives," he said.
Reagan said he was shocked by the indictment of
former House Speaker Dennis Hastert on charges of evading banking laws and lying to the FBI.
"Anybody who knew Denny Hastert knew what a wonderful human being he was as speaker," he said. "I am absolutely shocked by it and you know the Democrats are going to use that against the Republicans in the upcoming elections, and that's really sad."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.