Cruz was becoming a national joke, but what does that say about Conservatism, he was a great representative of current Conservatism and he was laughed out of the race.
i think that people didnt want progressive globalism because they saw that that was the thing shipping out all their jobs abroad and welcoming in all the refugees and illegal immigrants. The only other choice in the 2 party system was conservatism. I think people tried that and realized that the people at the head of the party were globalists as well so they continued shipping out jobs.
I think people finally realize that nationalist conservatism is the way to go. Its like they didnt really know what they wanted to solve the problem in the past and just tried whatever was available.