When the general public is stupid, a unified media is extremely powerful.
They have rendered Fox News irrelevant. Even real stories that appear on Fox are doubted until they show up elsewhere. To many Americans, Fox News is the broadcast equivalent of the Weekly World News. To be fair, Fox with their Jerry Springer style of panels hasn't helped itself in that regard.
Republican now means rich, old, angry, racist white MEN. No one in the public wants to vote Republican because it's just not cool.
Tea Party now means Republicans that have had their cheese slide off their cracker. Extreme versions of Republicans. Uber uncool.
America is like an alcoholic that doesn't even realize he's an alcoholic yet. The parties are going on, spending OPM, all kinds of crazy rules to keep those uncool Republican in check. It's just a blast. This alcoholic doesn't even realize what's being lost, and how high the cost is of the party. America will have to hit rock bottom before it can rebuild. Nothing any of us can do to stop it. America will fall, and in my lifetime. We are heading to a "Berlin Wall" moment.