The Republicans are committing mass suicide for the nation to see. Each time they go through this exercise with each new version, it gets worse. I suspect many of the GOPe are going to be happy and if they lose the majority, they will also be happy as they settle back in the comfy chair as the token opposition.
They probably just want to “barely win” / break even to keep their powerful committee chairmanships but not really have any power to change the status quo - or at least not have enough that they can used it as an excuse.
It kind of creates a paradoxical situation - we need to deliver them landslide victory they apparently don’t want and don’t deserve to shake up this mold. If the base is motivated and the political winds are at our backs, we could, theoretically, have a net gain of 10 seats next year. That would sure shake things up - not only in numbers, but that would make a full tenth of the Senate be entirely new blood...probably something they aren’t comfortable with...so they probably just want to win enough to break even or maybe pick up a couple of seats, but no more so the apple cart stays put where it is.
So how do we motivate a base that is angry with the GOP into showing up and delivering a landslide to take away any excuses not to get at least a few major pieces of legislation passed? That’s the quandary...