DEMOCRATS ABASE THEMSELVES TRYING TO APPEAL TO THE CENTER. REPUBLICANS ABASE THEMSELVES TRYING TO APPEAL TO THE EXTREMES.

The Atlantic's Tom Nichols, an ex-Republican and Trump critic who likes to lecture Democrats, has some advice for Abdul El-Sayed:

Start by kicking Piker to the curb - hard

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— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) August 8, 2026 at 2:51 PM

I'd expect a centrist like Nichols to recommend that El-Sayed cut ties with Hasan Piker, who's said some things that are offputting to voters El-Sayed needs. But "kicking Piker to the curb - hard" implies more than just a separation. It seems as if Nichols wants El-Sayed to abase himself and make a great show of renouncing Piker. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but even if I am, we know that it's conventional wisdom that Democrats need to move to the center, or center-right, or even right, in order to win elections outside deep-blue regions, and the usual advice is that Democrats should put flashing neon lights around their renunciations of liberalism or progressivism, just to make sure every voter is aware of the act of submission.

Yet Republicans running in purple states and districts never seem to do this. Ken Paxton, for instance, isn't tacking to the center in order to win a tough race in Texas.

In fact, the only kind of renunciation Republicans ever seem to engage in is renunciation of past moderation. Lindsey Graham and J.D. Vance renounced their previous (justified) attacks on Donald Trump and won elections in red states. And now that's happening even in the swing state of Michigan:

In the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election, as President Trump refused to accept defeat and pumped out false claims about voter fraud, Mike Rogers was a clear and consistent voice of reproach.

Mr. Rogers, a former Republican representative from Michigan, denounced Mr. Trump’s efforts to undermine the election as “cause for both concern and alarm.” He ripped the president’s pressure on Georgia’s top election official “as more gangster than presidential.” As for Mr. Trump’s role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Mr. Rogers declared, “You’re damn right you had responsibility for this.”

But as he aims to return to Washington, in a Senate race considered key to control of that chamber, Mr. Rogers has become an election skeptic. Minutes after the president’s recent speech filled with outlandish accusations about voting fraud — including a debunked claim about Michigan ballots — Mr. Rogers weighed in, suggesting that further scrutiny of the election was warranted.

“I am thankful for President Trump’s commitment to transparency,” Mr. Rogers said on his social media accounts. “The news coming out of the White House tonight is deeply troubling — especially that of a voter fraud scheme right here in Michigan.”

Mr. Rogers has also suggested that voting irregularities sunk his Senate bid two years ago — based on an unproven claim about late-arriving Detroit ballots....

Democrats who follow conventional wisdom tug their forelocks and say their party is "weak and woke," or uses too much "faculty lounge" language. They reject the aspects of their party that are (rightly or wrongly) seen as out of touch with the mainstream.

Republicans are doing the opposite right now. They're attacking Anthony Fauci. They're embracing election denialism. They're scaremongering about communism and sharia law.

And there's this:

Former NBA player Royce White told OutKick/Fox News Digital that he apparently plans to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft, as he now claims to be transgender.

There are now two former NBA players to announce such a decision, after Enes Kanter Freedom made his announcement earlier on Friday.

"I'm transgender. I'm a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I'll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well," White said.

To some extent, this is White -- Alex Jones fan, misogynist, and anti-Semite -- trying to win a Republican Senate primary in Minnesota in which he's struggling in the polls. But the fact that he has an accomplice -- along with the fact that the right-wing media is reacting with across-the-board squeals of delight -- tells me that this is a troll intended to motivate GOP base voters nationwide, at a time when they appear much less enthusiastic to vote than Democrats.

Republican voters love "I identify as..." trolling, so much so that there's an entire subreddit based on the idea that this is the right's "one joke" (reddit.com/r/onejoke/). If they were mainstream Democrats, they'd want to abandon this sort of thing less than a hundred days before the election. But they're mainstream Republicans, so they're leaning into obnoxiousness and partisan division.