If the voters are too apathetic to what the DNC is offering, the thought of abandoning them for something that is much more popular isn’t a contradictory prospect. Having an enthusiasm problem so big that trump was able to be elected twice kinda points to the fact that people want something else.
people whose politics is premised on empathy
You must not have read this part. Republican politics don’t rely on empathy, but democratic policy supposedly does, thus less turnout for a less empathetic democratic candidate.
But you clearly used a slur that was removed
Choosing current republicans and current democrats is choosing the weapon to be used against you and especially against minorities. Both parties choose to uphold a system that relies on “winners” and “losers” to exist, which makes both of them willing to use minorities as a cost of maintaining profits and systemic power. Why is it acceptable to think it is better to choose the less lethal weapon instead of doing literally anything else to try to prevent all this systemic violence?
Arguably more successful is Abraham Lincoln. Though, it might be more accurate to say that the newly formed Republican party didn’t kill the Whig party; rather the Whig party killed itself due to not listening to their constituents (which seems pretty relevant to our current situation)