The Republicans — unfortunately imo — do not
need to dramatically “change their program” to stay relevant. They just need to dump Trump and change their tone. A “Trumpism w/o Trump” candidate like DeSantis could do well in ‘24, depending on the economy and how the dangerous international situation develops, and on who he runs against.
After all, demagogery has proved it can work to win elections for the party, and not just during Trump’s presidency.
I would like to see centrist or moderate Republicans emerge again and change some of their party’s policies, and become more rational and amenable to compromise — for example on immigration. This would force the Dems to act more responsibly as well. But the fact is overall the moderate wing of the Republican Party is weaker even than its neo-con warmongering wing, or its evangelical one.
The Republicans can do themselves a big favor by changing over to a “ranked choice” primary system for choosing their candidates. If they did this (very unlikely I fear) they might even save themselves, and end up with much higher-quality candidates.
How far the once great party of Lincoln has fallen …