The moderate conservative is a figment of your imagination. The moderate conservative went extinct in '94 when the party unleashed Newt Gingrich on the country. 

And the biggest missing persons story in the history of country is the 2009 disappearance of 15 to 30 million republicans who were trying to run away as fast as they could from the disaster called the Bush administration. 15 to 30 million republicans claim they'd barely heard of Bush and certainly didn't vote for him. 

Like so many German soldiers in 1945 who shed their uniforms and claimed they never belonged to the Nazi party, the conservative in 2009 changed out of their republican "clothing" and reemerged in tri-corner hats and claimed to be "independents" or members of the tea party...but no way no how were they republicans and besides "both sides" were at fault.

And then they elected Trump. A moderate party does not elect a man like Trump, Lela. And extremist party does. There are no republicans moderate, Lela. None