The problem is not their understanding of power, the problem is their source of power. Politicians derive power from consensus - if the party agrees with you, you get to do what you want. Democrats/liberals require that your values align with their values, your policy positions align with their policy positions, your morals align with their morals. Democrats have a long and laborious purity test that every politician must pass whenever the polity feels like testing, and the democratic polity will test whenever anything happens. Republicans/conservatives, on the other hand, assign their values, policy positions and morals to whoever is leading the party. This worked for the Democrats when they were the party of labor. It's fucked 'em pretty hard since becoming the party of globalist investment treaties. The Republicans are in disarray whenever they can't find a charismatic leader - it's gonna be interesting if Trump has a stroke and they become the party of JD Vance.