I liked it better when Republicans stood on principle instead of being Democrat-lite.
I think by that standard, there has been only Reagan who would pass the test of not being democrat lite.
But we got Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Bush I, Bush II and Trump. Always better than the alternative.
Perot was the only 3rd party person that came close to having a chance.
Can you name a single election since WWII where the democrat was the conservative, by comparison to the Republican?