It could get worse before it gets better.

There's not assurance it will get better. The Roman Empire never did, and no longer exists. For example.

I have seen the decay of the Republican Party. Out of high school, I registered Republican. My dad had no use for Democrats, thought they were the party of the lazy and shiftless. To his credit, if he fell on hard times, he refused to seek out government assistance. He hustled to get a job, any job. At one point he drove a taxi for a while (back in the mid-70s) when he couldn't get a sales job (which was his primary profession). So he walked the talk, so to speak.

Perhaps I was too young to see what the Party was, and it has decayed since then. Or maybe it was always like this, and I'm just more aware. I was NEVER comfortable with the influence religion had in the Party (Falwell, anyone?). I didn't like Bush Sr, but couldn't bring myself to vote for the lazy party, so I voted Perot. I left the Republicans when Bush II defeated McCain. I was unaffiliated for years. Voted for Obama in 2008 because (IMO) McCain had sold out, and was saying stuff I had never heard him say (he was my senator).

Was the Party decaying? Or did I just become more aware? Maybe both? The Felon, if he's really the future of the Party, tells me that there is a lot of decay. Sure, I later became aware of where Reagan kicked-off his first campaign (at the time I had no idea). I think it has metastacized since 2016. More religion (always a bad thing in politics), more racism and xenophobia, more nationalism and jingoism.

I hope it cracks and crumbles. A Republican future -as the Party currently stands- would be dystopian, and possibly the end of the Republic (Ben Franklin may have been prophetic). Frankly, I'm not optimistic. We are on a path to an Orwellian fate, IMO.