You nailed it. I wasn’t born yet when Goldwater ran but I’ve studied him.
It’s like history repeating itself.
Ford LOST his election run because he picked Nelson Rockefeller, a back stabber who helped kill Goldwater as his running mate. Reagan made the difference when he ran against Carter and that idiot midget from Massachusetts, Dukakis. But after him, the RINO wing came back with Bush I and Bush II, masquerading as conservatives.
It really ticks me off when I see the same people who backed Bush I and Bush II, whom I did support, attack Trump when he is more conservative and Pro-American than either of the two.