I agree fundamentally with the point that there was a general global trend to the right, but I feel the question is more about which actors are controlling the realignment, not whether it was inevitable or not.
Reagan himself was dead-set on winning the White House in spite of his age after ‘76, but you could’ve just as easily had a world where he sat out 1980 and John Connally picks up the mantle of the conservative movement leader. Or, you could have a scenario like described earlier where Ford wins another term and Ted wins in 1980, but instead of being some super muscular liberal, he bows to the pressures within and without his party and implements some sort of austerity/neoliberal agenda (maybe with the exception of Ted’s desire for universal healthcare).
Reagan himself was dead-set on winning the White House in spite of his age after ‘76, but you could’ve just as easily had a world where he sat out 1980 and John Connally picks up the mantle of the conservative movement leader. Or, you could have a scenario like described earlier where Ford wins another term and Ted wins in 1980, but instead of being some super muscular liberal, he bows to the pressures within and without his party and implements some sort of austerity/neoliberal agenda (maybe with the exception of Ted’s desire for universal healthcare).