As a progressive, I know I'm supposed to be happy that state Republican parties are having trouble with the faction of the party that regularly howls at what it thinks is the moon.
Democrats are not immune to such problems, but the conflicts on the Republican side highlight the tug of war over the GOP's future as national leaders work to improve the party's brand. At the same time, the Republican dysfunction raises questions about the GOP's ability to coordinate political activities in key battleground states ahead of next year's midterm congressional elections.
But someone is going to have to demonstrate clearly to me how this "dysfunction" actually has "crippled" the party in terms of its long-term policy goals, especially in the states, where the real mischief is being done, and not being able to re-elect human bowling-jacket Paul LePage as governor of Maine isn't it. Voter suppression continues apace. A woman's ability to exercise her constitutional right to privacy is under successful assault from Wisconsin to Texas. It's a capital mistake, and one that people insist on making, to think Republicans to be the conventional idea of a national party, with a top-down chain of command beginning with obvious anagram Reince Priebus and moving down from there. The party is more like a collection of orreries, a number of independent systems each orbiting a distinct center of power, but all moving in roughly the same direction. Even if the formal party structure collapsed tomorrow, the gains it already has made, combined with the vast corporate money available to conservative politicians, the network of extra-party organizations and institutions, and the myriad grassroots operations centered around various separate issues, would keep the forward momentum going for years. (And that's not even to mention the virtual lock that like-minded individuals have on the federal judiciary.) The important thing is the goal, not how you get there. At that, the Republicans are doing just fine.