Republicans can please their base or the electorate, not both

'At some point, surely, people will stop to think about what Donald Trump’s plans will look like'

After Mitt Romney's failure last time around, Republicans have realised that to win the White House in 2016, they had better be more inclusive (Reuters)

Sometimes a political party will discover its suicide gene and push a series of issues which, by their radical nature, defy the thrust of public opinion, or choose a leader whose policy priorities diminish the chances of actually taking power. You say Labour, I say the Republicans.

When Mitt Romney crashed last time, dismayed party grandees reached a few sensible conclusions. To win the White House in 2016, they had better be more inclusive, find a way to bring more women and young voters on board and stop alienating the fastest growing block of voters out there, Hispanics.

It was also imperative to field candidates who would forswear the usual mutual demolition derby as they vied for the party’s nomination, and avoid saying really dumb things on sensitive subjects like rape and immigration. Do not, in other words, say illegal immigrants should “self-deport” like Mitt did.

So much for that. For nastiness we need go no further than Donald Trump – Carly Fiorina’s face gives him a “massive headache”. For jarring remarks, we have Ben Carson who after last week’s mass shooting in Oregon averred that the victims should have done more to take down the shooter (shoot back). This, after he said America could never have a Muslim president. That’s inclusive.

Let’s just say that neither Trump nor Carson take the nomination even though they lead most polls. At some point, surely, people will stop to wonder what Trump’s promise to build a wall along the Mexican border and evict about 11 million illegal aliens will look like. Ugly, impossible, immoral, chaotic, shameful. Not a recipe to win Hispanic votes.

But the Republican blindness goes much further than their clowns. Pick a hot political issue and the party as a whole is on the wrong side of public sentiment. Or to clarify: they are on the right side if they insist on responding only to their conservative, base, but not if they want to win nationally. Obamacare, gay marriage, abortion rights, Cuba – you name it, they’re out of sync.

Why have Republicans in Congress become so fixated on a bunch of highly dubious videos recording comments by executives of Planned Parenthood, some of whose network of women’s clinics offer abortions, to the point where at the end of this year they may threaten to shut down the government unless federal funding for them is taken away?

The Republicans identify themselves as anti-abortion, nationally and on a state-by-state level. Yet support for legal abortion remains above 50 per cent, according to Pew Research surveys, and more Americans approve of Planned Parenthood than disapprove. More importantly, is this really the way to appeal more to women and younger voters?

When will they stop trying to roll back Mr Obama’s healthcare reforms is now above water in public approval? A PPP poll this week showed 42 per cent supporting it, 40 per cent opposed. When will they catch up with the rest of the land on gay marriage? Don’t they see that insisting Cuba remains under an embargo makes them look hopelessly out of touch?

Who among the Republican candidates gets all this? Senator Marco Rubio has had moments of enlightenment on illegal immigrants, yet on gay and reproductive rights remains nasty. Two come closest to passing the test: Jeb Bush and John Kasich. If I’m right and inclusiveness matters, their numbers will eventually start to rise. If I’m wrong? Trump.