The conservative movement has been damaged?? I’ll hold.off judgment till we see the election results.
I think that a major storyline of this election campaign, which nobody talks about, is voter dissatisfaction, especially among Republicans/conservatives.
A big untold story, in my opinion, is how we have seen a political outsider take on and defeat over a dozen mainstream politicians, and capture the presidential nomination of one of our two major political parties.
Surprisingly enough I think that dissatisfaction is rampant in both parties anymore.
The other thing is that conservatives had opportunities and could never even get their man to win the nomination for the party. Obama should have been an easy opponent, especially in 2012. If the moderate Romney couldn't win, a dyed in the wool would have suffered an even greater loss. There are many Republican voters that only vote for the Republican because of economic issues. They are also the ones that cross over to the Democrat ticket if the social issues become threatened by conservative candidates.
Yet they keep thinking that conservatism is alive and well. Now somehow it is totally damaged by Trump. Trump in my opinion is more conservative than the last three Presidential candidates the Republicans put up. The only thing that got George W. Bush elected was Clinton fatigue by just enough people. Then he won reelection due to 911 and the ensuing wars.