Trump is not one of us, he never was. But he has learned how to fashion a conservative sounding dog whistle that calls all scared, confused, and pissed off conservative lapdogs (who are obviously not thinking straight) from miles around.
Trump is a crude megalomania who will make Zero look like an amateur at executive orders, bailouts, and circumventing Congress.
He certainly has the Cult of Personality thing going for him. How has he done that?
One explanation goes like this. Many Americans are intimidated by political correctness. For example, one might feel that you can’t use the word sodomy in a mixed group, but someone in that group can freely mention homophobia. A lot of Americans are intimidated, but many of the intimidated are not persuaded. Trump comes along and thumbs his nose at political correctness (on a few issues). The MSM jump on it - to Trump’s benefit.
McCain, Graham, Trump?, Rubio? use and fight conservatives. They each think they can max votes that way. In their hearts, they may all hate conservatives, and could be easily persuaded at some point to establish their (liberal) legacy.