I think it is certainly a possibility Bill Clinton talked Trump into running on the Republican side to throw a monkey wrench into the GOP nomination. Bill thought he was clearing the path for his wife by hamstringing his opponents from within. Not long before Trump announced he was running as a Republican he was considered a clown on the conservative side. Even Jim Rob said as much. But the promise to build a wall sealed the deal for those who believed him. That was all that mattered. His long history of being a NY liberal was just that, history...
You and I definitely agree on this somewhat and I've felt this way for quite some time. Cruz announced his run for the presidency and the left panicked; he WAS the one that could beat Hillary. Cruz had a huge following and an excellent ground game. If he didn't have either he would have never made it into the Senate in spite of all odds and the GOPe (Turtle) trying to stop him. So, he had to be stopped. Enter Donald J. Trump. Trump went after every single one of his opponents relentlessly and ruthlessly, especially Cruz and yet he was relatively mild when it came to attacking his opponent his friend, Hillary.
Trump being the master salesman of himself, looked at what would sell; being an outsider, building a wall, and no amnesty. I noticed that many of the ideas that Cruz had Trump expounded about and was a better seller of those ideas. After all it was Cruz that he was inserted into the election to stop.
I don't think that Trump ever intended to win and certainly the Hillary campaign and all those that had counted on her winning were in absolute horror that he won. Trump took the reigns. The bitterness from the DEMS, especially those in the past administration escalated and they vehemently have tried to stop everything that he has tried to do when they realized that he was going to play his own game and do things his way! They vowed he would be a one term president; Russia gate ... impeachment... COVID. Trump being Trump wasn't about to let them win ... so he went ahead with "his" plans and surprisingly he has made some progress along the border and has made some conservative moves and has done some patriotic things. I have no doubt when he became president he realized the economic quagmire this country was in; business and the economy have always been his forte and he absolutely succeeded. I also believe along the way he realized the amount of corruption coming from the other side; corruption that was lurking to sink him and his economy. He's been fighting, but his liberal tendencies also shine through.
It is very troubling that he hasn't drained the swamp, the wall isn't built, the deficit has absolutely skyrocketed, he hasn't stopped the rioting in the streets and he is promising a roadway to citizenship, IOW, amnesty.
If he does go after the swamp creatures (and he won't)... then my assessment of Trump is dead wrong and I will be the first to admit it.