Political history, especially in the house of representatives, paints a vivid picture of long term Republican thinking. Their ability to canvas and take over local government as well as mobilize their voting based is absolutely unrivaled by any other political party in the US. Think tanks from the right have been publishing political playbooks for decades which outline their thinking and planning on both short and long term issues and this shouldn't be dismissed as not thinking ahead.

I won't give the mouthpeices much credit. But be careful in underestimating them. Self-delusion is deep and complex, and that's frightening enoguh. Even more frightening though, is that if you go searching deep enough in conservative donors networks, conservativeism always winds it's way back to members of the 1% seeking unchecked power.

Conservative and religious institutional donors do think ahead, and they are a special breed of cruel, ruthless, and smart. Yes, most of the conservative bloc is dickwaving while they push the "give money now" button of reaction hate politics. It's pretty obvious that on the surface there's nothing particularly thoughtful going on there.

But the underlying strategy is as fascinating as frightening. There is a LOT of effort that goes in behind the scenes to figure out how to manipulate literally every aspect of people in society. These big donors typically have highly lucratice connections, often very direct ones, to big corps. Some of the most insidious manipulation that goes on in our society today is the result of capitalist businesses finding ways to perpetually squeeze us harder for a dollar. It's no coincidence when we see the same tactics being used in politics.

So yeah. I don't entirely disagree with you but progressives consistently get our asses handed to us when we underestimate anything.