Well, there seems to be a shortage of competent leaders in the GOP -- or at least there is now.
Followers ousting one another for not being sufficient followers.
I honestly have a hard time wrapping my head around it.
The solution to the GOP's problems are so simple, yet, elude so many in that camp.
Ditch the pandering to "Religious Right/Moral Majority" (that may have worked in the 80's, but it's not the 80's anymore...that doesn't work for the same reason MC Hammer pants and permed mullets don't work anymore), and run Bill Weld and Charlie Baker in 2024.
Acknowledge the fact that public opinion on the issues of gay marriage and abortion are settled, and it's never going back to the "way it used to be" on those issues, and move on and focus on other things. There are still people who like guns, lower taxes, aren't crazy about certain far-left social attitudes, etc... capitalize on that.
It's really that simple. A Weld/Baker 2024 ticket could win.
They were both tremendously popular (even among democrats) point of reference, Baker and Weld both won Gubernatorial elections in Massachusetts - as republicans - by larger margins than Obama won the state for his presidential runs. Literally at the same time Obama was winning 60% of the state as a Democrat, Charlie baker was winning the state with 66% (Weld was even higher than that in his day)
And despite the posturing that comes from staunch conservatives in solidly red southern states, it's not as if they're going to vote for a democrat just Baker/Weld don't 100% pass their "ideological purity test", they'll still come out and vote for those two simply by virtue that they're more friendly to gun rights and low taxes (even if they don't like their more progressive positions on pot/gay marriage/abortion)
A Weld/Baker ticket would equate to solidly red states staying red (even 10% of conservatives were bitter about them and stayed home), and flipping a handful of other states from Blue to Red. That's especially true if something happens to Biden in the next for years, and the Democrats decide to run a "woke" ticket... While people in certain New England and Midwestern States vote democrat because they're progressive on pot, gay marriage, and abortion, many still aren't crazy about the kind of ideas that are popular in Portland. You ask any Midwestern or Southern democrat who they'd like better, AOC or Larry Hogan, most would say the latter.
This "we have to pander to the most right-wing personalities" is the reason why I stopped voting republican for presidential elections. I actually liked John McCain, but when I watched people boo him for refuting birther claims, and simply saying "no, he's not someone you need to be afraid of, he's a good family man, who I just happen to disagree with on some key issues", I knew that wasn't the party for me anymore (at least at the federal level) and started voting libertarian (with the exception of this last one, I voted Biden to stop the madness)
