you're impressed by the rhetorical level of "I paid for this microphone" "we begin bombing in five minutes" and "there you go again" ? :freak:
I didn't define those as great Reagan moments, so no. There you go again. That phrase worked because of what followed it and because of how he framed the rebuttal in a genial, humorous tone of dismissal, ending with the asking of a simple, but rhetorically effective question, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?".
Trump plays to fear and paranoia and his rhetoric is comparatively sophomoric. Reagan wasn't above using some of that, but it's not his best and most of what he offered was of a different cloth.
reagan's best moments came from his plain outspokenness, his connection to the little guy, the guy who wasn't impressed by high levels of rhetoric
High levels of rhetoric? Rhetoric is simply the art of persuasive speaking. It isn't about vocabulary, but how it is used. What we remember Reagan best for was a combination of poetic rhetorical splendor (D-day speech, Challenger speech, etc.) coupled with a frequently self-deprecating, accessible humor, and his championing of America as a dream whose best days were before her. That's what rallied people across a wide spectrum.