Since the Republican Party has almost entirely embraced Trumpism, those who take this route will be paddling upstream. This approach is sensible, nonetheless, given our electoral system.
As long as we have winner-take-all elections, we will have a two-party system. Here’s another way to think about it: All democracies must build a majority coalition to govern. In multi-party systems, the coalition is formed after the election. In two-party systems, the coalition is formed before the election by the party that eventually wins.
If we lived in a multi-party system, reform Republicans would likely have their own party that might join a coalition with other Republicans, or other Democrats, after the election. In our two-party system, reform Republicans are one coalition among many seeking to influence the direction of the party.