This leads to a second objection. Pursuing the short-term interests of the GOP, gained by unity, may actually damage or destroy the party in the longer term by confirming a series of destructive stereotypes.
I wouldn't consider a generation and a half short-term interests, which is how long many justices and judges stay on the bench. The Democrats, the party of slavery, black codes, Jim Crow, and every kind of segregation easily slipped those millstones, while the GOP was trying to figure out if it was the party of Nixon, Goldwater or Rockefeller. Voters are a lot more forgetful than we think. Both political parties have been all over the place since the days of FDR/Truman. I do believe that once the Democrat convention has concluded, they will unify, but with the mess the GOP has made for itself (with a little help from Democrats), even Hillary can walk away with all the marbles. And that's a damn shame.