...as Reagan did.
The GOPe had it made before Reagan took away their punch bowl. They had safe seats with all the pork and hookers they wanted from their Democrat betters. All they had to do was be the Congressional Washington Generals and never try to get anywhere close to a majority let alone take over. If any of the rank and file, or worse, an outsider, tried to change things, it was the GOPe's responsibility to exact swift punishment (something you see to this day in the way the GOPe saves its venom for conservatives).
As long the GOPe played by the those rules, their world was a great place. Reagan's near defeat of Ford in 1976 and his election in 1980 brought many conservatives into the mix and wrecked the GOPe's world. They have never and will never forgive conservatives. The idea that pulling the rug out from under Trump at the convention would drive away his supporters as well as the remaining conservatives leaving just the GOPe in place sends massive thrills up their legs.
You’re exactly right. Sickening.