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"Rove wants Republicans not to rely too much on the conservative base."

They've already tried that, and it wasn't very successful for them. They do so again at their own peril.

They've already tried that . . .

Rove is 100% invested in the "Demographics equals destiny" philosophy. He sees people being fully defined by - and only important by virtue of - the group they belong to. You have to "win" the group to win.

But identity politics is the Dims (= Socialists) only argument. And they will win it. The alternative (certainly not the Rove establishment Republicans) will win only by breaking down identity politics and showing voters how they are individually benefitted by something other than the nanny state.

Showing an individual benefit to those who actually work for a living ("Make America Great Again" instead of "Gimme stuff") Trump won. By appealing to the nanny state dependency groups, McCain and Romney lost against an abysmal candidate.

But Rove will continue to pull out polls that show this or that group identity will prefer a socialist approach. The only questions for him are: How fast should we drive over the cliff? How can we be the ones behind the wheel when we do?