The Tea Party movement and the Trump I admin emerging from it certainly was just a valve (as well as many other right-wing movements). Trump II, I agree, is a much different beast, although what exactly it is and who is in charge of it remains debatable:

• Is it authoritarians and neo-fascists running the show, merely taking large chunks of the billionaire class hostage, as Carole Cadwalladr has said about the CEOs lining up for inauguration and later almost falling over themselves when promising to bring back investments from offshore?
• Is it the moneyed elite who are tired of playing grey eminence, merely buying influence behind the scenes while, by and large, still keeping up the charade of committing to liberal democracy, egalitarianism and the rule of law?
• Is it a Russian or Chinese operation designed to destroy American power throughout the world? A look at the results of < 2 years’ worth of Trumpist foreign policy lends a lot of plausibility to this hypothesis: why else would this admin take the axe to American soft power and alliances throughout the world, threaten and alienate its allies while at the same time cosying up to Russia and other dictatorships, and deplete U.S. high value munitions in yet another senseless war?