Trump is no Gerald Ford. He’s not even George W. Bush.

I teach at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, named for the 38th president, the only Michigander to serve in the White House.

President Ford once said, “I believe the truth is the glue that holds together the government, not only our government, but civilization itself.”

Ford’s commitment to doing what was right was so strong that he put the country ahead of his own re-election efforts by pardoning former President Richard Nixon so that our country could put the Watergate scandal behind it and move forward to meet the challenges within – and abroad. For this, Ford was honored with the Profile in Courage Award.

Compare that to former President Donald Trump. According to the Washington Post, Trump has made false or misleading claims more than 30,000 times during his four years in office. And he continues to repeat untruths at every meeting he holds.

Trump is no Gerald Ford.

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He’s not these Republicans either

President Ronald Reagan said in his very first year in office: “Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our ability to welcome people from other countries.” (By the way, America created twenty million new jobs under Reagan, proving that immigration and a robust economy go hand in hand.)

Trump has said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of our country, that immigrants are attacking our “cities and towns,” and that illegal immigrants are “animals” and “not people.”

Trump is no Ronald Reagan.

George HW Bush won the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery as a fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater during World War II. As president, Bush risked his presidency to defend a smaller, weaker country – Kuwait – when it was bullied and invaded by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Trump has said he would encourage Russia, which has invaded Ukraine, to do “whatever they want” to any NATO country if that country had not allocated a certain amount of defense spending. Asked whether he has spoken to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Trump replied: “If I have, that’s smart.”

Trump is no George HW Bush.

In 2003, President George W. Bush announced a massive investment plan to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic around the world, especially in poorer African countries. Twenty years later, it remains the largest healthcare investment made by any country, more than $100 million in 50 countries, and in the process it is estimated to have saved more than 25 million women and men.

Trump has described immigrants from many of these African countries as “shit-hole countries.”

Trump is no George W. Bush.

The late U.S. Senator John McCain ran for president against Barack Obama. But then a supporter of his fired the then senator. Obama as an “Arab” McCain quickly responded by saying, “No ma’am, he is a decent family man, a citizen, with whom I happen to disagree on fundamental issues, and that is what this campaign is all about.”

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For four years, Trump spread the lie that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Trump also said Obama is “the most ignorant president in our history.” And Trump has called Obama “the founder of ISIS.”

Trump is no John McCain.

When U.S. Senator Mitt Romney was called as an impartial juror in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Romney put country above party as he cast his vote. “President Trump attempted to corrupt the election by pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to falsify the election results in his state. President Trump also violated his oath of office by failing to protect the Capitol, the Vice President and others in the Capitol. Each and every one of these conclusions compel me to support my conviction,” Romney said of the insurrection at the United States Capitol, which resulted in the deaths of multiple individuals, some of them law enforcement officers.

Trump has pledged to pardon those whose violent attack on the Capitol led to the deaths of law enforcement officers.

Trump is no Mitt Romney.

There is one conclusion

All this evidence begs the question: Why would a Republican in Michigan who voted for Gerald Ford – or Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush or George W. Bush, Senator John McCain or Mitt Romney – ever cast a vote for someone like Donald Trump ? ?

The answer is clear: they shouldn’t.

Rusty Hills is the former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and was a top adviser to former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.Send a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters and we can publish it online and in print.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opinion: Trump is no Gerald Ford. Or Ronald Reagan. Or George Bush.