MAGA has some policies, some OK and some not OK (isolationism, anti-NATO, etc.), but it's also a culture. The culture is toxic and unsustainable.
I'll give you one thought on a way that OG Republicans could've started to address this, but didn't:
The Lankford bill in the Senate.
Now, a lot of people were angry at Lankford for simply sitting down with Democrats to hammer out a bipartisan bill. I didn't have any issue with it at all. At the end of the day, border policy is probably going to need to get bipartisan support if they're ever going to get their arms around it.
But here's the thing: the Democrats are on their heels on this issue right now. And they know it. Anybody who follows the issue knows it. When that's the broader political context of something and they're looking for a way out of it, you don't need to make many compromises to get them on board. Maybe a few little things, just so they can sell it to their base. But, on the big things, you've got them.
So why did Lankford agree to the thresholds? Either he's weak and stupid...or else he generally agrees with them. Either way, it was a big missed opportunity to start getting the Republican establishment back in the good graces of its voters.
I'll give you a hypothetical analogy. Let's say Republican lawmakers wanted to craft a bipartisan abortion bill with Democrats. We all know that, in most places, abortion is a strength of Democrats and a vulnerability for Republicans. Do you think Democrats would be open to making some big concession to Republicans on the issue, in order to help them politically with an issue that is giving them problems in elections?
I don't. If I was the Democrats, I'd say....here's the bill, if you want to sign on, this is what you sign on to. We can give you a couple little things to help you save face, but you're not getting anything big.
If Sen. Lankford had taken a similar approach with border security, it would've done wonders for the Republican establishment and their MAGA problem. Maybe the Democrats would've refused to take part. But, if so, that's on them -- because they'd be choosing to stay mired in a terrible place with the electorate on a top issue facing the country.