From the 1930s until 1994 the Republicans were almost always the minority party in Congress (until Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America in 1994). So they are used to talking a good game but never having to deliver. Bill Clinton’s excesses and Barack Obama’s overreach gave them control of Congress but they are afraid to do anything with it. And of course since 2018 the Democrats have had the House of Representatives. Republican politicians at the federal level seem mostly content to be in the minority as long as they personally get re-elected.
Yeah, the minority is safe, maybe too safe. As long as they get reelected they can coast along, but there is also the view that the senate is there to safeguard things. A lot of things don’t get done, and won’t get bungled up. That’s the intention. So they are not like activists but preservers.