The article doesn't really indicate anything that's unique or peculiar to Trump, other than he's simply more mean than previous republicans.

#14 | Posted by eberly

I have always thought that.

It is not that Trump took over the conservative movement with his charisma or strength of personality.

"Conservativism" was just looking for someone like Trump, a sociopath and a bully who was not afraid to say the quiet part out loud.

And, it makes sense. The world has changed drastically in my lifetime (the past 40 years). Not just with the internet. I look back at so many of the things from my childhood, or even my 20s, where it just has not aged well. Black lives matter. Women's rights. #MeToo. Gay rights. Gay MARRIAGE. When Bill Clinton implemented Don't Ask Don't Tell that was seen as major progress and a major win for the gay community, as the maximum that society would accept at the time. But it was used against Hillary when she ran for President just 20 years later, seen as a conservative and discriminatory act.

And I can definitely understand why whites having to compete against everyone else equally, having their privilage taken away, is seen by many as an attack. Especially by those who aren't actually very competitive, who do not have much to offer, whose pretty much only point in their favor 20 years ago would have been the fact they were white. Now they have nothing. Incels sitting in their parents' basement feeling like the victim.

This has been building for a quite a while. There are always winners and losers. Even when you make things more fair or more equal, there was someone who had an unfair advantage, one they surely felt entitled to, that they are losing. If Trump had not been there, conservatives would have found some other sociopathic bully to represent them and their ideals.