If Trump loses, does the GOP finally take the autopsy report to heart?

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

I think this depends on Biden midterms. There's a pretty predictable cyclical nature to the last 20 years of elections. Republicans found a way to ramp this up to an unprecedented level in 2009-2010 and if that playbook continues to work, then they'll have more incentive to ignore the autopsy than to heed it.

Key question here is if the realignment which shifted so many reliable college-educated voters from D to R means the cyclical patterns will hold. If these typically high-propensity voters stick with Biden in a midterm year then it will be worth Republican's while to shift back to courting these voters rather than relying on the spotty 'no true conservative" WWC voter that Trump turned out.

A massively underrated aspect of post-Trump politics is how the Republican party will be shaped after becoming the party of Trump. Trump was attractive in large part because of his perceived authenticity and his personality. It's a massive reason why he turned out voters who previously ignored Romney, McCain, and down ballot candidates. If the GOP has wrapped its entire electoral and political strategy around the personality of Trump, and he's no longer on the ballot, then the 2012 autopsy will likely be obsolete and they'll have to write a new one.