I've always contended that people largely want to be led. And it doesn't really matter who, heck, even Kid Rock. It's crazy. But when you get someone like Trump acting like he did in the debates and all of the childish trolling thereafter, people get a false sense of security and the real them comes out.
Ultimately, it's bad for so-called conservatives. They've never really been that good at keeping their own front yard clean.
Quite the contrary... the real problem conservatism has right now is that all there non-racist ideas kind of suck or are no longer relevant.
If you were a Reagan conservative, you were for smaller government, strong national defense (although that's a bit of a contradiction) and fiscal responsibility. Top that off with a bit of family values rhetoric and there you are.
With Trump, you got a guy who spends like a drunken sailor in a whorehouse, bangs porn stars, and has pretty much sold out our allies and coddled our enemies.
So what do "conservatives" have left? Oh, yeah, the racism.