Independents and particularly white women elected Trump. They were the most important swing vote that determined the critical states that gave Trump the electoral college edge over Hillary's massive $2 billion political campaign. Hillary's failure to resonate with independent white women and minorities, particularly black voters, sank her campaign.
As soon as he won the nomination, they all fell in line. So clearly he was the "conservative peoples" choice, but not the "conservative establishment" choice. Once he was elected, republicans (even the establishment) further fell into line by continuing to support, condone and cover for his (and the GOP leadership's) corruption.
"Independents and particularly white women elected Trump"
Independents sure but white ... republican women voted for him too. Being a "white woman' does not automatically make you a liberal democrat.
"Hillary's massive $2 billion political campaign"
Cute. All presidential campaigns are massive on the $ scale.
"Hillary's failure to resonate with independent white women and minorities, particularly black voters, sank her campaign."
Lots of factors contributed to Hillary's loss, it was not just "white women and minorities" who failed her.
Anecdotally, the people who have admitted to me (they feel shame BTW) voting for Trump did so out of their own self-interest. They thought they were "shaking up the system".