Remember "Bedtime for Bonzo"?
A movie where the chimp was smarter than the male lead?
That male lead went on to become POTUS, twice. Paving the way for stupid Republican presidents.
There are qualities that Republicans find attractive, such as illiteracy, senility, and incompetence which kind of grease the puppet strings for the larger donors.
Not much Fred Thompson could do would hurt him with Republicans unless he came out for women's rights, civil rights and/or human rights. Or had an interest in the separation of church and state. That would really sink him.
Arf