What separates Reagan from Trump is personality and what was possible given the political and media climate of the time. Reagan was reportedly making deals with Iran during the election, though it has never been definitively proven. His administration sold Iran missiles, even though they were a "State Sponsor of Terrorism" and funneled money illegally to Right Wing death squads in Central America, trained, also illegally by the US. People went down for those crimes but Bill Barr and GHW Bush tidied up the mess and most of the actors got away with their illegal acts.
Conservatism holds that there is a "natural hierarchy" in society that should be upheld by law. It is an inherently unequal philosophy and if left to its own progression, will lead to authoritarianism. If you just give it a bit of thought, how can it not? Conservatism as a political ideology was born out of the defense of the concept of Monarchy. During the American and French Revolutions, aristocrats were trying to make the case, if not directly for hereditary monarchy and aristocracy, for the structures that supported it. Conservatism, though different in different countries, has never strayed from the belief that certain people are just naturally "better" than others and those better people deserved to make the rules and reap the rewards of society relative to their importance.
Reagan was a trained actor. He was good at making pitches and sounding folksy. He wasn't a particularly talented actor like say Sir Lawrence Olivier, or Cary Grant, etc... but he was a talented pitchman. Trump is simply a narcissistic failson, who had he not been born into wealth, would likely have ended up in prison, or dead for his penchant toward illicit activity. Make no mistake however, Nixon's actions lead to Reagan, which lead to W Bush, which led to Trump and the stated of Conservatism and the GOP today. Trump isn't an aberration, he is what happens to right wing ideology sooner or later. You see the same with Orban in Hungary, Le Penn in France, Meloni (the actual fascist) in Italy, and Putin in Russia. These are right wing leaders.
= new reply since forum marked as read