They HAD to. All it took was for Trump to say the "R" word, (rape) once, and the war was over.
Why? No one can deny it without bringing up Juanita Broderick. And Juanita Broderick is a very credible, already "vetted", sincere woman, with no axes to grind. She's nearly bulletproof. So the media can't drag her through the mud, the Hillary camp can't either, and so, the war is over before it even started. Too bad the GOP didn't try this a couple of decades ago.
Your statement makes the assumption that the GOPe wanted to win. If you can betray enough people you can make a lot more money by taking the fall and stealing the rubes' money. For 30 years the GOP has played the confidence man to the Democrat's bag man while the rich aristocracy is the mob boss. Imagine the smokey DC back rooms where they laugh their asses off as they divide the spoils. Everyone saw how the Republican