I think many Republicans would rather lose one election than lose their party forever.
Wish they would turn back to their original principles of conserving what is tried and tested and evolving cautiously. That's a perfectly decent model. And it contrasts neatly with a more experimental and progressive liberal model. For me, choosing between those two models would be a hard thing.
But somehow the strict "conservative" ideology has taken over, which is destructive of government rather than conservative.