Which figure of speech is used in this text?
We don't mistrust each other because we're armed; we're armed because we mistrust each other.
—President Ronald Reagan, speaking of relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union
A: chiasmus
B: understatement
The text uses chiasmus, an expression in which the second half parallels the first but reverses the order of words.
The second half of the sentence reverses the order of the words mistrust and armed relative to the first half.