The Republican Party was already struggling for an identity before Trump. A sensible and practical balance of social, fiscal and national conservatism has proved difficult for any one candidate to deliver. A mysterious, swamp draining, wrecking ball, Trump filled the void. He could not remain mysterious as president though. So he lost in 2020.
The Republican Party still needs a leader who learned anything in high school other than yelling and charging. The success of Glenn Youngkin and other Republicans in the Virginia state office elections days ago this 2021 will definitely be considered. Youngkin does not have the hubris Trump had. That by itself might not work though. Youngkin also has no gravitas. Pretending the world is still as it was during the Vietnam conflict hasn't helped Republicans all these years and electing Glenn Youngkin was definitely not their best idea ever either.
Nevertheless Youngkin probably cannot avoid running for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. Who else will? The void has to be filled somehow. Early 2023 polls might show Ted Cruz, Glenn Youngkin and perhaps even Trump ahead of any others in the mix. Confusion about whether Youngkin would be the same mistake Trump was might put Cruz in the lead.
Limiting an incumbent to his one term can be a daunting task. Some believed Ted Kennedy could limit Reagan to one term, but that didn't happen obviously.
Of course Cruz has no gravitas either, he'll definitely have to start developing some, being careful to avoid hubris.
The notion that "anything" would be better than what we have won't work if you keep running facsimiles of what we have. Cruz and Youngkin have much work to do.
An issue that might help a very desperate and disorganized Republican Party to unify itself could be abortion. Some believe appointing Supreme Court Justices then simply passing a law is all they need. The young Republicans apparently do not understand the problem. The law is too difficult to enforce. It either generates a backlog of unsolved rape cases or places a hellish burden on the victims of rape. Is any amount of compensation realistic? People who do what they are told without questioning it can save trying bad ideas over and over. However if the people who do what they are told without question have no good leaders then trying bad ideas over and over is exactly what they will do.
At the moment the issue probably most people consider first is returning to a lifestyle before the pandemic. Many of the people who got vaccinated did so in the mistaken belief that the vaccinated don't spread a virus. Masks as part of a sensible regimen of hygiene actually prevent the spread of a virus much better. That means some people will not give up their masks until the pandemic is virtually neutralized or there is "herd" immunity. Other welcome news might be that the pandemic is exposed as a failed political move. That comes with the added benefit of proving blind faith in science is a very significant problem.
A president Ted Cruz presiding over a country mature and sober enough to maintain its health without running to the doctor for every runny nose would be a most welcome development.
A yet unsolved mystery is who is satisfied with the decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover and why? Shouldn't Trump have worked to have that decision overturned? Is not doing that why he lost? Why don't other Republicans do something? The excuse often found recently for failing to open a good scientific discussion is that Republicans have at last learned to be "polite" and let others have their way. While indeed some problems are solved without government action, this problem is not one of them. The government without science has already imposed itself on the education system. The "polite" thing to do is remove the foot of government from the neck of the classroom. Too few Republicans understand either the science or the politics since it has not been on television all these many years.