I think the real republican party doesn't exist. There is the "trump" (racist and listening to lies) party and the "religious" (ignorant and traditional) party and the "libertarian" party (I'm biased to them, but a good majority are trump-types or anarchists in a disguise). The republican party is a war of the worst of all these ideals, with no real direction or cohesion to pick where each is good and bad and apply their theories in the proper areas. A good republican party would be religious at the individual level, libertarian/religious on the economic level, and trump-like (at least in the no nonsense way) on the representing the people way. Economy should be more (what I consider) libertarian with a strong focus on markets, but without that same focus on small government. Instead we have a party that is small government/no regulation in places where it hurts the people. Pro religion where it hurts the people and takes our freedoms, and trump-like where it hurts the people by making the US look like a bunch of uninformed idiots.
My hypothesis is that they "choose" the most hurtful arenas because they actually hate other people- they get some sort of satisfaction knowing they are getting something other people aren't or are "sticking it" to certain sectors of society. It sounds ridiculous but I'm starting to believe it more and more every day.