You’re right.
I will also add...and I am not advocating because I don’t pretend to have all the answers...that years ago there was some success at moving the Conservatives to the right (although they are still far to the left of me). They had pretty much gone the way your Republicans are going now....they ran to the middle to try and splinter the left/appease the left whatever you want to call it. They were even called the Progressive Conservative party at one time. They were dreadful. Big government. Very liberal on social issues. Some years back the Reform Party (which arose out of the Social Credit Party) made big gains out west. They were grassroots conservative reformers. They eventually merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the Conservative Party. It’s not what you or I would consider conservative, but it is more conservative than the old Progressive Conservative Party (a party which still exists to some extent btw).