"Chomsky sure puts it together well. The political pretense (he stresses) of the GOP in throwing aside the pro-choice abortion position of Reagan and GHWB (George W Bush's father) to go after the Democrat-tending voters of the Catholic north, and the evangelical vote.
On the other hand the stuff they actually pass, the tax bill (the only major one of the Trump/GOP period) and all the deregulation stuff to cater to their primary constituency, those of "extreme wealth and corporate power."
That married with Trump's skillful use of emotional rhetoric to grab the working class which Democrats have virtually abandoned all added up to top political strategy, at least for a short short term.