What about why the GOP lost?

There has been a lot of discussion from the Dems, the GOP, the campaigns, the media, blogs, etc. about why Hillary lost. What hasn't gotten as much attention is why the non-fringe candidates lost in the GOP primary; Trump should have never won the primary much less the general. Trump is just a symptom of how massively broken our systems and institutions are. And while we want to hope; I see no signs that we will change course and start heading in a direction that fixes things.

The GOP seem willing to continue putting party ahead of the interests of the country no matter the consequences. An example of how far they are willing to go is the letter sent to the Ayatollahs, signed by almost all GOP senators, urging the Ayatollahs to not cooperate with our commander-In-Chief. If the shoe was on the other foot, the GOP would characterize that action as treason in a time of war.

As for the Dems; the increasing loss of down-ballot races and measures should have been a red flag to do something different. But the Dems have not updated the play book, they continue to lose the propaganda war, they are in too much of a Beltway bubble because of what I call the GOBAG Club (Good Ol' Boys And Girls) and consequently don't effectively relate to what's going on outside the Beltway, they are reactive and not proactive, their strategy is passive, they've done little to nothing about voter suppression in the 16 years since Bush v. Gore... Yet too often over the years I have heard comments from the Dems like; the GOP are going to overreach, now the GOP has to govern and that will hurt them, when the demographics change it will favor Dems, we need bipartisan solutions, we need a grand bargain, we need to reach across the aisle, Reagan and Tip O'Neil worked across the aisle... It's unbelievable and annoys me to no end that they are continuing to spout this kind of crap; they are relying on strategy that has been obsolete since Gingrich --- TWENTY YEARS AGO!!! I'd like to be optimistic, but I see few indicators that the Dems know what to do going forward.

Dan, San Diego