Trumps messaging is erratic because Trump’s erratic. He’s a useful idiot for the party. At first, they fought it, but when they saw the voter response the first time around, they said, “Fuck it, let him rif.”I’m not even sure he knows what he’s saying (to quote the guy!), but he’s a means to an end for them. They’ve made incredible progress working behind the circus that is his public life.

The core goals of the party haven’t changed in over 40-years, though. As the party has shifted right, positions that were once fringe have become mainstream and rolled into the platform, but the core positions are all still there, and they’ve made significant progress. Abortion is back to the states, Charter schools are getting more and more common, public funding is starting to get to religious schools, many states have right to work laws, some are even starting to limit access to porn. And of course the rich are getting stratospherically wealthier! None of those goals are new. They’ve moved further right because of their success in achieving some of the core goals, and because some of those previously fringe ideas have gained traction. Most of this comes down to generations of consistent messaging (and actively working to hobble the government making it look increasingly inept to fit their narrative). You hear something long enough, it becomes “normal.” You grow up hearing it , it’s almost “acceptable”, while not ideal. Other industrialized countries would’ve taken to the streets if Roe had been struck down. We all went back to work the next day. Sure, there are reasons we didn’t have much of a choice in accepting it, but progress on those fronts have been very slow as well. The last major step being the ACA and Obergefel (sp?).