The parties have become fundamentally different.
To the extent that the GOP is infected with RINOs, the two parties may appear similar, but this is not true.
The base of the Republicans loves this country, as always, loves the Constitution, as always, and wants to be left alone, as always.
The base of the Democrats has (fairly recently) decided that they hate this country, they hate corporations, they hate profit, they hate hard-working people, and they hate God.
You can't bridge that gap, and there is no sense in hinting that maybe both parties need to give a little. The Democrats abandoned this country. They ain't coming back.
"All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public-personnel management. The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government-employee organizations. The employer is the whole people . . . "
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1937.
“You can’t bridge that gap, and there is no sense in hinting that maybe both parties need to give a little.”
You nailed it, CCG! The conservatives and liberals are too far apart to bridge. We have little, if any, common ground.