Energizing the base works two ways - both positive and negative. The entire segment of Republican voters who won't be energized with the grim prospect of eight years of President Hillary has to be small. It's infantile for them to put the nation in the hands of the Clintons again. It's also dangerous.
If enough of our constituency is this short sighted and immature, maybe our best bet is to ditch them and build consensus with others.
You're missing the point. There are lots and lots of people nationwide who are not political. They don't vote strategically. A huge chunk hardly votes at all. They may or may not be registered with a party but they don't think of themselves as part of their party.
They are disconnected voters. They get up off their rears and vote when something or someone comes along where they can say , I get it. I agree with that guy. A lot of them are moral conservatives who think of the entire political process as evil and corrupt. Reagan pulled a huge chunk of disconnected voters off their couches because he said things they had been waiting to hear, and they agreed with him on the important issues.
Giuliani won't do that, because he's more of the same to them. They won't make a strategic vote, they just won't vote at all. It's not a childish tantrum, it's more like you not buying any shoes because nothing caught your eye in the shoe store that day. They will just sigh and go back to what they were doing.
I have met these voters in droves over the years. I understand them, but it doesn't mean I would vote that way. Nonetheless their behavior is predictable and they exist in large numbers in every corner of the country.