Point is, the GOP alienated me from politics in general. The only reason I retain a likelihood to vote Republican for national office is over social issues, especially same-sex marriage and abortion and, relatedly, religious liberty. If the GOP gives these up, there will be no strong reason at all for me — or the group Thomas Kidd calls “paleo-Evangelicals” — to privilege voting Republican over Democratic.

But that’s me. Most Evangelicals, and I would guess most social conservatives, hold Republican views on foreign policy, national security, and economics; Huckabee certainly does. That being the case, why should they walk away from the GOP in a snit over SSM? It doesn’t make sense. That’s why this is an empty threat from Huckabee.