It actually sucks electorally because the message being sent is that republicans are okay, except for one Donald Trump, and they're not. The average republican voter has been brainwashed to vote for Donald Trump for decades. Some rich old white man from a rich family of uber racist landlords. Donald Trump is what decades of tax breaks and bailouts for the rich have produced. Republicans have a deep bench of people like him, although none have the same blend of rich, paranoid, crass, and aristocratic. But I guess Dick Cheney isn't "weird" (although he is definitely a freak) so he's okay now. The message being sent is that republicans that aren't "weird" are okay, and that hurts democrats down ballot. Then again maybe the plan is to win the presidency and lose the senate so they don't have to even pretend they care about affordable housing or health care or anything.