Lonestar, I agree with you
about the effects of the tax cuts, etc. But I'll add an effect on to it. It shifted the moral arc, as well. With Reagan, these corporate people saw themselves as the chieftains, the do-gooders of society. Why should they pay all the money, in addition to all the good they do for society, as they saw it? They were held up as paragons, and ate up every word of it until they believed it completely. They passed the belief onto the next generation until it was internalized unto the current generation. If we actually go back far enough, I think you'll find it didn't start with Reagan, but actually started prior to Reagan... but with Cheney and Feith and others prior to Reagan; with those who actually got Reagan elected. Those who were so incensed that Nixon got caught with his pants down, and swore revenge. Those who started the New Century America (or whatever it was actually called - memory fails me). This was a long term plan. Bush, Jr. almost ruined it for them. Trump almost ruined it for them. Instead, they made both of them work it around for them. Cheney turned it around by making himself Bush's VP. Trump's just decadent enough to buy into everything they want - which is one party control; a fascist state. Of course, it's great as long as their desires are compatible. They will diverge at some point; at which point New Century is going to be sorely disappointed, as will all the Evangelicals who think Trump is their savior god.
But Reagan's election DID start society on a tract towards coarsening and hardening of it's heart against the poor, the vulnerable. Reagan shut down and emptied the mental hospitals. Killed the unions. Made the workplaces dog eat dog. Up to that point, it was not unusual to start and end your career at the same company, retiring with a good pension, as well as social security. Reagan helped stripped all that away. Reagan made the phrase "welfare queen" a dictionary entry. He may have been a doddering, dementia impaired, old fool... but he was an actor playing a part with enough old-time republicans around him in good supporting roles to prop him up. So, even today among some circles, he's still worshipped as a near god figure. Trump has worked hard to replace him, but even he can't replace him completely.
The only thing Trump has been able to do is carry on the Republicans' work of turning Americans against each other in hatred. And they've been absolutely successful in that. They've had excellent lessons in that from the Russians.
And I agree, absolutely, with you in not absolving the Democrats. I liked Bill Clinton, but I detest the fact that, like a lot of men in power, he couldn't keep his pants zipped. I also thought he should have foreseen some of the problems his policies would have had on the American people. I thought all along his policies were more corporate-leaning, and I didn't agree with that. And then, it seemed like each democrat that came afterwards followed him was more like him until we came up with a new class of democrat - the corporate democrats... farther and farther away from our FDR roots... and farther and farther away from the common people who were always our base voters. Saying this is what made me finally give up on Daily Kos, btw. I pray I don't get chased off here, too. I was thrilled to see Joe Biden hark back to our FDR roots, despite the headwinds of the Republicans.
We are so far into the evil of hatred, I don't know if there's a way out of it. At this point in all religious mythologies, the gods send a global catastrophe to wipe the earth clean and start anew. All hail the coming asteroid?