Well, we could argue about who is entitled to be associated with the term "base." But that isn't going to advance anything, is it?
I think it is fairly evident the GOP is undergoing a split. It's at an early stage, and the internal battle lines and battle tactics are still fuzzy.
Just like we did when Buchanan and Traitor Jeffords left.
It's not a GOP split, it's a base split and it will be the end of any hopes for the White House in the future unless some candidate emerges that can put it back together.
There is none, nor has there ever been, a split in the GOP. The ones who are causing the most ruckus "within", are not even people who belong to the GOP to begin with. They're embeds either from the DNC or some loser third party. This is how either one of them can win. They can't win by being truly honest about who they really are.