One of the most irritating things about the GOP's old guard is that too many of its members orient their moral compass by looking to the Democrats.  In its most extreme form, we get the NeverTrumps, former Republicans who discovered that, once Trump finally enacted their long touted conservative wish list, they didn't like it.  For these grifters, it's better to go to the elite cocktail parties than it is to bring peace to the Middle East.

Many of the old guard were also cowed by the name-calling: "Racist!"  "Homophobic!"  "Sexist."  It beat them down so that they no longer trusted their own beliefs.

One of the most delightful things to happen since John McCain passed away is seeing Sen. Lindsey Graham discover that he has a spine.  While he occasionally tries too hard to be the polite Southern gentleman, there's no doubt that McCain's absence from the scene, coupled with the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, helped reorient him to core conservatism.

Through 2020, Democrats have been bullying Republicans.  When Republicans delicately suggested that extending a two-week lockdown into a six-month lockdown, long after the curve was flattened, was going to damage Americans, Democrats told them in no uncertain terms that they were now the party of killing Americans.

And after George Floyd, an overweight, hypertensive, overdosing ex-felon, died in police custody, any Republican who dared to speak out against the "protests" was told, in a replay of the Obama years, that he or she was a racist.  Some courageous Republicans did speak out, but most of them mouthed Black Lives Matter platitudes along with the Democrats.

But something important happened last week: the polls showed that Americans disliked the riots and the destruction of their cities.  It was 1968 and the Democrat National Convention all over again.  So it is that, for the last week, the Democrats have turned on the riots.  Of course, being Democrats, they've done so by trying to pin them on the Republicans but, after three months of actively supporting the mob, that narrative's not going to stick.

Normally slow on the uptake, Republicans have been quick to realize that they have an opening here.  That's why the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) put out a video in all contested states that explicitly ties the Democrats to the destruction and bloodshed in the streets.  This is such a good video that it's hard to believe it comes from the GOP:

The Republican Senate Majority is the last line of defense against the Democrats' liberal mob that wants to burn this country down. #HoldTheLine pic.twitter.com/nYozpisFQr

— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) September 3, 2020

The above is the general video. Below are two examples of how the NRSC is deploying the video in specific races:

This is the America that Jon @Ossoff and @JoeBiden want... Georgia deserves better. #GASen #gapol pic.twitter.com/tvoOm0Zq7b

— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) September 3, 2020

When it comes to standing with Iowans or @JoeBiden’s mob, @GreenfieldIowa chooses the mob. Iowa can’t trust her. #IASen #iapolitics pic.twitter.com/KzzeGVg4JM

— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) September 3, 2020

Although the Democrat shock troops enjoy engaging in violent combat, with the disreputable Democrat media and politicians cheering them on from the comfort of their TV studios, homes, and offices, Americans don't want a civil war.  They want a safe, comfortable, happy, and energetic nation within which to raise their children — and that's what the Republican party is promising them.

Image: National Republican Senatorial Committee campaign video; screen grab from a shareable video.