My first thought of the poster was you. Thanks for this and so many other posts like this.

Neanderthals are alive, just look at the republican party.

than modern humans. That would leave out Republicans. My guess is that Republicans would be a throwback to Australopithicus.

Paleoanthropologists do not believe that Homo sapiens killed off Homo Neanderthalensis.
Sapiens and Neanderthalensis actually lived side by side for a very long time and they interbred. We carry Neanderthalensis DNA within our genome.

BTW, we also interbred with the Denisovans and possibly even Homo Erectus.

interbred. I can think of a number of reasons why we might have outlasted them, even if my reasons aren't at all the correct ones.

I have a relatively large amount of Neanderthal DNA, which I happen to think is quite cool. Apparently, Neanderthal genes are not all that useful, and seem to be diminishing rather rapidly.

Neanderthal genes likely gave us some protection against viruses that our ancestors encountered when they left Africa.

the Neanderthal genes apparently don't offer any advantage, which is why they are quickly disappearing.

Perhaps that long ago advantage did exist, but not any more.

and that the increase in survival of offspring in the colder climate by even 2%, over time, would result in our species becoming dominant.