On Free Trade: He was free trader but in the mid 1980s his tarrifs on Japan actually saved the free trade ideology as the I beleive congress was about to pass bill that would have overridden reagan on trade and implement protectionism and Reagan understanding what that would do for free trade he eventually decided to put tarrifs on Japan
This is what I called preventive co-option, taking control of the issue yourself to prevent the other side from handling it "Their way" and thus saving the underlying issue.
This is why Conservatives today, are terribly ineffective compared to Reagan back then. Reagan knew how to function and maneuver a situation to his benefit and to his long term point. To people like Haley/Ryan this is just a socialist, traitor, RINO who needs to be hauled out into the street and lynched.
The Conservative Movement and its Soviet style purification has made conservatism stupid and ineffectual, relying on sticks in the mud that everyone just wants to take an axe or a chain saw too. Reagan knew what he was doing, Ted Cruz doesn't.
Its like the difference between John Bell Hood at Atlanta and Robert E Lee at Chancellorsville. Cruz is Hood, Reagan is Lee. Hood was even picked because Johnston was considered to be too cautious, so the first thing Hood did was charge out and attack Sherman. He got destroyed allowing Sherman to take Atlanta and burn the state to the ground in the march to the sea. But hey rather lose than war than be a "coward", am I right? 
At Chancellorsville Lee pulled back along the front, and only sent probes to keep Hooker in place, while he sent Jackson around their right flank and cut them to pieces.
That's smart strategy, we cannot do smart strategy because we are so concerned about finding the next Benedict Arnold, we can't trap British at Yorktown.
This is what Nixon attempted to do with his universal healthcare proposal back in the day too and the GOP is still suffering from it not getting over the finish line.
