Here's the major difference. Yes, Reagan did suck up to Jerry Foul-well too much, but there was never any doubt Reagan was calling the shots.
Reagan still appointed moderate judges that upheld Roe, for instance.
The way I could tell the Crazies took over was after Obama won in 2008, they had a conclave to discuss what went wrong. And instead of concluding that the wrecked economy and the unpopular war was their problem, they instead decided we just needed some more Jesus on the platform.
You had Mitt Romney, who thinks he's wearing Magic Underwear
Piyush Jindal - who performed exorcisms in college.
Sarah Palin, who went to a church where they invited a witch hunter to speak.
Mike Huckabee, who thinks the rapture is coming.
Yes, this is the inmates running the asylum.