I think you're right. There's another thing, too, where the opposition is unable to provide a coherence that speaks to the pervasive sense of 'wrong' and provide stability in identity that you mention.

Indeed, their idea of being coherent is not only maintaining the status quo that enables those two things, but doubling down. When challenged, they nest in the politics that the Republicans once espoused and have left behind, than realizing that there's a reason those messages and values have shifted by the maga right's successes. It should come as no wonder then that they lose ground year after year from desperate people looking for comfort from the political class.