Reagan 2016: Newspaper endorses 'the great communicator' over Trump

The San Diego Union-Tribune has finally decided which Republican candidate it's going to endorse in the race for the White House.

Ronald Reagan. And yes, you heard that right.

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The California newspaper's editorial board said in an op-ed Thursday it cannot back presumptive GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump because he is "unfit to lead the free world."

So, instead, the Union-Tribune wants readers to vote for Reagan, who died in 2004 at the age of 93.

The op-ed reads, in part, "Today, the principles of the party of Ronald Reagan are as relevant as ever: a stable border, a strong military and economic policy focused on low taxes, less bureaucracy and limited regulation."

And Trump doesn't exactly share those same principles.

"I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall," Trump said as he announced his bid for president.

"I am the king of debt, I do love debt. I love debt. I love playing with it," Trump told CNBC.

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Still, some argue that Trump's campaign has a lot more in common with Reagan than some might care to admit.

As a writer for New York Magazine put it earlier this week, "As Reagan seduced voters and confounded the experts with his promise of Morning in America, we can't entirely rule out the possibility that Trump might do the same with his stark, black-and-white entreaties to High Noon."

Trump officially snagged enough delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination late last month, though he won't formally accept until the delegates cast their votes at the party's national convention in July.

As for the San Diego Union-Tribune's actual endorsement? The paper has decided to go with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.