“I never advocated abandoning working within the party to change it. I wouldn’t ever advocate that.
When a party receives the conservative vote regardless of the candidate, do you think that makes it more or less likely that the party will run a genuine small government conservative?”
The correct course for anyone who even considers “less likey” would be to threaten to withhold the support, and threats mean nothing with no intention to carry them out.
I vote for the primary candidate who most closely reflects my views. If they go ahead and nominate someone who isn’t strong on the Bill of Rights and smaller, less intrusive government, that candidate does not receive my vote. So I both work within the party and carry out my threat to not vote for big government authoritarians. See?