Just look up the definition of a Reagan Democrat. Add some entitlement and wealth, and that’s Trump. That’s who he’s always been. He was never a guy that really cared about issues, which was quite obvious after 4 years of not passing any meaningful legislation.
The reason R’s never turned on him or threw him off a cliff is because he followed the Heritage Foundation script. He isn’t a conservative at all at his core. He doesn’t care about things like that. That’s for the plebs to chew on.
Both parties were racist throughout the 70’s and 80’s. There wasn’t much difference back then. Just size of government and taxes and spending.