Barone’s “prescription” is at minimum twelve years too late.
The GOP is dead, and we saw our last free and ‘honest’ national elections in 2008.
The GOP are become the Political Judenrat for the Democrat MarxoFascists. They hate what WAS the Conservative base of the party with a vehemence - and now we have gone Soviet in the shell game of giving the people an illusion they have a choice in who is crowned ‘leader’.
Washington is beyond fixing by any civil method, period.
It is beyond fixing as you say because virtually of the Republican “leaders” are fully disgusting. It is only a matter of degree as to who is the least disgusting. This lack of opportunity will permit the nomination and defeat of Jebbie, I believe.