Definitely not when it comes to security. We are talking about packages, which means even legit, well-intended programs can be weaponized by the packager.
That's a hell of an attack vector.
Most AUR packages I have seen have been incredibly easy to read - if you really don't want to use them, it's still a good framework for making your own packages much more easily, so you can install from source without dumping unmanaged stuff into your system.
> Most AUR packages I have seen have been incredibly easy to read
It's not about quality, but rather more about quantity. I don't have the time to vet every package.
makepkg pulls source files and possibly patches, and then compiles them and installs them according to the instructions. It makes life simple.
In contrast with AUR without which you don't have much of a useful desktop experience.
Next thing would be for Arch to officially support SELinux and we're good to go :D
There are notable exceptions where the package license doesn't allow that. E.g. chrome (not chromium) spotify and dropbox.