In the last five years I’ve talked to a LOT of “ex” republicans. The number has blown me away. And we all left for the same reasons.
I see the republican party as the modern Whig party. Sometimes you don’t change something from within. You let it die and build on the corpse. Or is that corps. I forget. ;-D
It’s risky, but not that much right now. It really doesn’t matter who is in power at this particular juncture. The ship has hit the iceberg. It’s going down slow, but it is going down.
At least the small group of lifeboats that are left will have a conservative leader. And they will eventually hit land, where they can rebuild what once was.
You are smoking something if you think you can change human nature. There is NO WAY of ever creating a perfect political party because we humans are all flawed. Good luck and let me know when you have created your utopia with enough pure members to win an election.