The Republican Party will hold a presidential candidate debate at the Ronald Reagan Library on Wednesday. It’s a bad fit. The modern idol of the Republican Party is the exact opposite of Reagan in personality and character.

To the optimistic Reagan, America was a beautiful city on the hill. For Donald Trump’s whining, it’s a dumpster fire for poison and lies.

Reagan’s rousing rhetoric made people feel good about themselves. There was always a bright dawn ahead: “Morning in America.

Yes, maybe that was a bit naive and corny, but it brought a collective smile and convinced many Democrats.

Trump spews hatred against immigrants and Democrats. He demonizes his critics. He incites riots and rebellion.

Reagan really loved people. Trump just uses them.

But there is a large group of Republican voters who worship the man, even as GOP leaders fear hell will drag the party to defeat again next year. He is far ahead in the polls of his biggest rival, the governor of Florida. Ron DeSantis.

As Times Washington reporter David Lauter recently wrote, barring a sudden, dramatic event, former President Trump is almost certain to win his third consecutive Republican nomination and face President Biden in next year’s election.

After following Reagan closely for twenty years as a candidate, governor of California and fortieth president, I cannot believe he would support Trump even if he were the standard-bearer of the Republican Party. Oh, it’s possible he’s whispering something about supporting the party ticket. But I seriously doubt he privately voted for Trump.

Reagan had no respect for firebrands and egomaniacs, regardless of party. He would shudder at Trump’s caustic rhetoric.

The Gipper used harsh words: ‘Break down this wall, the evil empire, but was always dignified and gracious, especially in public. Trump comes across as a childish bully in need of anger management.

Ronald Reagan could deliver a political blow, but he did it with courtesy and humor, the former governor of California. Arnold Schwarzenegger once said this at a meeting at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

An example was when he gently spanked President Carter in 1980: Anyone who says they like cold showers must be lying about other things too.

Reagan would never have called people stupid even if he thought they were, George Steffes, his legislative lobbyist in Sacramento, once told me.

Unlike Trump, Reagan would also never have questioned whether the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was a war hero after he was captured by the North Vietnamese and held captive for more than five years. Reagan idolized McCain’s military service.

Reagan truly believed in conservative principles. Trumps a conman.

But Reagan was not a knee-jerk ideology. He often governed as a moderate, especially in Sacramento, sometimes compromising with Democrats to get half a loaf, other times because he believed so.

On the environmental front, Reagan as governor was practically a liberal. He once led a pack train into the High Sierra to declare the spectacular John Muir Trail and Minaret Summit, south of Yosemite, off limits to federal highway builders.

Although hostile to an intrusive, centralized government, Reagan helped create a two-state agency with Nevada to control growth in Pristine Lake Tahoe. To preserve a Native American burial ground and protect wild trout, respectively, he blocked the construction of dams on the Eel and Feather rivers. And he signed legislation creating the California Air Resources Board, which led to the nation’s first tailpipe emissions standards.

As for taxes, Reagan raised and lowered them to meet the government’s revenue needs, both as governor and president.

As president, he signed legislation granting amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants.

Could Reagan have won the Republican presidential nomination in today’s polarized, ultra-conservative, uncompromising Republican Party? Many don’t think so. Too suspiciously centrist. In name only, he would be considered a feared RINO Republican.

I do not agree. Reagan could win in any era with his personality, optimism, character, authenticity and rhetorical skills. He was a rarity.

Clearly, the training he received as an actor gave him an advantage. And he had that velvety radio voice that melted people, says Ken Khachigian, Reagan’s chief speechwriter on many occasions.

When he got into trouble, he started telling stories about Ginger Rogers or Bob Hope to take the edge off. Other candidates cannot match that skill.

Reagan did not skip the candidate debates. Trump’s on the verge of his second straight dodge.

He always loved to debate, his longtime political guru, Stu Spencer, recalled.

Usually he took the opportunity and made precise comments that are remembered to this day: There you go again. I pay for this microphone. Are you better off than four years ago?

All he did was beat Democratic candidate Walter Mondale in the first debate of the 1984 campaign. Reagan sounded too old and out of it.

But Reagan bounced back with a legendary age joke in the second debate that all but sealed his reelection: I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit the youth and inexperience of my opponents for political purposes. Even Mondale laughed.

Does anyone remember much of what the current Republican candidates said in their first debate?

There’s no one in the field that Reagan would be wild about, Spencer told me.

With the exception of the former governor of New Jersey. Chris Christie, the Republican candidates are afraid to be honest about Trump for fear of alienating his loyal voter base and him.

Reagan called on his party to give voters a reason to believe in raising a banner without pale pastels, but with bright colors.

He symbolized bold colors. This Republican candidate group paints itself in pastel colors.

These presidential candidates should visit the Reagan Library while they are there. Maybe they will learn something about courage and boldness.