The depressing part was that a globalist billionaire (and not a particularly conservative one historically) was perceived as the only viable option conservative

The depressing part was that a globalist billionaire (and not a particularly conservative one historically) was perceived as the only viable option conservatives had to disrupt the existing party cronyism. In 1992, that option was Ross Perot, also a billionaire, until the deal with Bush and the weird withdrawing and reentering the candidacy. The mainstream Republican Party has been generally disliked by conservative voters for a long time, but they don't have anywhere else to go, and Democrats' policy positions are completely unacceptable to them.