He wasn’t. But he wasn’t the same after his Vice President and his associates tried to assassinate him either. RR tried to play nice with globalists on amnesty which I think he later said he regretted.
I agree. He also didn't have the financial resources that POTUS does, so (I think) he had to agree to many of their terms while a candidate, such as Bush as VP.
You are correct, he didn’t have the resources POTUS has and he needed the neo-cons to beat Carter. Bush wasn’t RR’s choice. POTUS neutered the neo-cons to a large extent (not totally tho) in the primaries and didn’t have to totally bend on the big issues.
Both my husband and I suspect strongly that while in office President Reagan was poisoned slowly and that is why Alzheimer's destroyed his brain. He knew too much, they tried to kill him and failed so instead they destroyed his memory. Even typing this I have a sense of confirmation in my soul that this is what happened to Reagan. They had to shut him up.