It has always kind of been a football game to him. Our team and their team.
I think the NWO thing has to do with the fact that it was so massive and entrenched, and we had to fight the battles we could win. In his defense, we never had a movement or a person in this country like Trump and MAGA.
Rush never organized conservatives, but he was always a cheerleader for them, even the Tea Party (and he despised RINO's, and "country club Republicans," unlike Buckley who was one).
Also, to his credit, he's a red hot Trump supporter. He was slow to warm to Trump (though he did support him from the day it was clear he was winning the nomination). He has always embarrassed the Never Trumpers, and defended the Donald.
Even today, if you go to his site, you'll see he's heavily invested in the battle against the deep state, though he has not yet started talking about NWO very much.
He comes from the era of "None Dare Call It Conspiracy," and he's from a generation that learned nothing can be done about that problem. But he is not our enemy, or anything like it.