You're thinking like one level deep, but the real issues are much more difficult.

Everything the GOP does makes them stronger, and everything the Democrats do makes them weaker. This is because exploiting things makes money, and defending things costs money. There's almost nothing the Democrats can do about any progressive issue that doesn't also create huge numbers of Republicans, so pleasing progressives is generally not the winning strategy you think it is.

I'm more interested in solving these problems than I could adequately explain, but you, like most progressives, think about goals and not strategies or ancillary outcomes.