People don’t remember this now but the neocons weren’t not at all a fan of Kissinger and in fact viewed him to be too weak on communism . Many of them had supported Reagan in 76 precisely so Kissinger could be replaced by someone who was more Hawkish in general and in 1980 one for Ford’s demands to be VP was that Kissinger gets brought back and Reagan said no to that :
I don't think I ever want to meet someone who thought that Kissinger was
insufficiently hawkish. What a terrifying thing to consider.
