Republicans are certainly capable of finding even more discord among their ranks, but as it stands, the current state of the Republican Party some eight months out from November is nothing short of sheer chaos.
What exactly Republicans stand for and who exactly speaks for them are entirely open questions.
Take Russian President Vladimir Putin's incursion into Ukraine, for example. Is it "genius," as Donald Trump said? Or should the U.S. "stand by the brave Ukrainians fighting to protect their sovereignty," as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said?
What about the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol—was it "legitimate political discourse" à la Trump and the Republican National Committee, or was it a "violent insurrection,” as McConnell called it?
And as long as we're on the topic, should Republicans hand out pardons to the Jan. 6 perpetrators who assaulted, bear-sprayed, and crushed Capitol police officers? Or are Republicans the party of law and order?
And what about taxes—do Republicans believe in lowering taxes or in tax hikes? In fact, they unanimously voted against lowering taxes for middle-class families with kids in the American Rescue Plan (i.e. the child tax credit), and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is now proposing a tax hike on America's working-class families and retirees.
Last month, President Joe Biden gave a nearly two-hour press conference in which he repeatedly questioned what Republicans even stand for anymore.
"What are they for? Name me one thing they’re for," Biden told reporters early on.
"What's Mitch for?” Biden offered at another juncture. "What's he proposing to make anything better?" (Nothing, responded McConnell.)
Later, Biden posited, "I mean, I wonder what would be the Republican platform right now. What do you think? What do you think their position on taxes are? What do you think their position on—on human rights is? What do you think their position is on whether or not we should—on what we should do about the cost of prescription drugs? ... I, honest to God, don’t know what they’re for."
A big part of the problem right now is that the Trump and McConnell wings of the party are diametrically opposed to each other on issues as fundamental as Russia and Jan. 6.
So one question is: Who speaks for the Republican Party?
But another question is: Which GOP wing actually represents Republican voters? On the one hand, Trump is undoubtedly far more popular with the GOP base (the polling leaves no doubt, with McConnell's favorable rating among Republicans sitting at an excessively anemic 23%).
But on an issue like Russia, Trump and his Putin-loving cohort of GOP allies are just wildly out of step with Republican voters, with 67% of them viewing Putin as a "foe" rather than a "potential ally."
So McConnell is quite literally despised by the GOP base, but Trump is losing altitude with them too, and he doesn't appear powerful enough to set the agenda with GOP voters the way he did during much of his tenure in the Oval Office.
Internally, that leaves room for other opportunists to challenge both Trump's and McConnell's leadership as Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida increasingly defy the edicts coming down from on high.
All of this has left the Republican ship both aimless and rudderless; from a policy standpoint, the party has no real direction and no one person or group of people is actually steering the ship.
In some ways, it makes GOP candidates vulnerable to a bevy of attacks from their Democratic opponents. Depending on the candidates and the district or state, Democrats could rail against their GOP opponents for, for instance, standing with Jan. 6 domestic terrorists and against the rule of law. Or they could attack them for opposing tax cuts that helped middle-class families weather the pandemic.
But in other ways, issue-based attacks on Republicans could get complicated. Since one honestly can't tell whether they're coming or going, it's hard to paint them with a broad brush on any single policy—they are that disjointed.
But what Republicans undoubtedly represent is sheer chaos and, in many cases, they are advocating the fringe views of some 30% (or less) of the population. Americans overwhelmingly don't support book bans, for instance, they rightfully see Putin as a menacing figure on the world stage, and no, they don't support pardoning the Jan. 6 attackers.
All those attack lanes are open for the taking.
Perhaps the one thing that truly defines this totally chaotic Republican Party is the anti-democratic orthodoxy that pulses through every limb of it—from Congress and state-elected officials to state parties and grassroots activists. It’s purely ideological. Only representatives from one party stormed the Capitol in an effort to overthrow the government. Only one party opposed doing an independent investigation into that event. Only one party has opposed passing federal legislation to make voting more accessible to all Americans. And only one party has pushed hundreds of bills at the state level to decrease access to the ballot box.
In spite of all its chaos, Republicanism is now truly defined by its ideological commitment to shredding democracy as we know it. So if Democrats want a broad brush attack—it’s there for the taking.