Even assuming the premise that any politician enters the business for self-interest and using self enrichment as a measure of success, the GOP brand is still getting clobbered. They ought to at least protect themselves if no one else, but they can't even do that. The Democrat-lite or not-quite-the-D message isn't selling and they are slowly bleeding seats everywhere. I think they know they are done and don't know what to do about it. My prediction is that political conservatism will balkanize and it's going to be a few years before that gets sorted out. Buckle up, as the saying goes.