The GOP is a grift operation and seems to target old people like those Nigerian money gram scams or televangelists, probably because the party linked itself to the right wing talk show media which is also a grift operation (right wingers sell ghost written books that they then sell to their fans as well as selling them overpriced coffee mugs and gold coins). What is interesting is the right wing “intellectuals” are now admitting this, per Bill Kristol:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/footprints-sand-time_665188.html

….And the conservative movement​—​a bulwark of American strength for the last several decades​—​is in deep disarray. Reading about some conservative organizations and Republican campaigns these days, one is reminded of Eric Hoffer’s remark, ‘Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.’ It may be that major parts of American conservatism have become such a racket that a kind of refounding of the movement as a cause is necessary…..