Rep. Darrell Issa — a former Marco Rubio backer who once distinguished Donald Trump as "a voice" of the Republican Party, not "the voice" — hailed the presumptive nominee Friday and even highlighted some "Reaganesque" elements of his campaign.
"What you have here, though, is, in fact, a Reaganesque campaign," the California Republican told Wolf Blitzer on
CNN. "One in which he talks about making America great again for all of us, revitalizing the military — and our Hispanic population here is overwhelmingly military, including people who served in the Navy, Marines and other branches of the military."
Issa, 62, who was first elected to Congress in 2000, spoke with Blitzer before the start of a Trump rally with veterans in San Diego. The developer has been speaking throughout the Golden State since securing enough delegates to win the GOP nomination on Thursday.
California is one of five states holding its primary on June 7, the last day of the presidential primary season. The state carries 172 GOP delegates.
Two weeks ago, however, Issa clarified to
ABC News that Trump's "voice is the voice of the man we will put before the voters to be president of the United States.
"Paul Ryan is our speaker … and he will be a co-equal voice," he said.
Drawing another likeness to Ronald Reagan, Issa told Blitzer that Trump's position toward Russian President Vladimir Putin — the Russian praised Trump earlier this year — would most likely mirror the 40th president's dealings with Mikhail Gorbachev.
"President Reagan dealt with Gorbachev that was not typical," he said. "He was not afraid to deal with him.
"He came out with real changes that were positive that made the world safer.
"The other thing that Donald Trump is doing, which is very Reaganesque, is that he's assuring everyone that he's going to increase our military capability," Issa added.
"So, in fact, he'll be looking at Putin in a way in which he has a real deterrent that right now we're beginning to lose."
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