If you consider the true implications of what Paul Waldman is saying, the GOP as a governing entity is functionally dead. And, while he doesn’t mention it, it’s not just some future hypothetical Republican president who will never be able to satisfy the GOP base, it’s any future Republican presidential candidate.
I mean, it’s possible to run for president without advocating any positive government action on any issue, and it may even be possible to win the nomination on a platform of widespread nullification and promises to strip the federal government down to the studs, but it’s a recipe for an electoral defeat that would make Barry Goldwater, George McGovern, and Walter Mondale blush.