Protesters march toward the Supreme Court as they demonstrate against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

There is something very odd going on right now as we enter the home stretch of the midterm elections.

The Democrats, the party out of power and with the most to gain this year, are acting erratic. Their base is frothing, and there are mobs – yes, my friends, mobs – forming to disrupt Republicans’ lives. Republicans are being attacked and injured in fistfights.

To our credit, most conservatives are not taking the bait, outside of a few “Proud Boys” incidents. Frankly, it makes no sense to me that conservatives would stoop to using the mob tactics of Antifa and others, but that’s the world we live in. It is a world that makes very little sense.

But, it is the Democratic politicians, not their mobs, who are confusing me the most. At a time when they want to showcase themselves as being a better option than Donald Trump, they are not offering ideas, not pumping up their base, and not doing anything to inspire voters that they are the preferable alternative.

Instead, they have chosen rallying cries of fear and paranoia, and those cries are being amplified by an all-too-willing media that wishes to see Trump defeated as much as the Democrats do.

I do not understand this. Trump is, according to the Democrats, a conspiracy-theory-pushing nutjob who should not be in the office he’s in. This is the time where Democrats are supposed to make the case that they are better, but they choose not to. Instead, they go right along with inciting the most fringe elements of their base into action.

They tried to destroy a good man’s life – not just his career or his shot at the Supreme Court, but his actual personal, private life – in order to stop his nomination. The result? The Republican Party enjoyed a very nice boost in the polls.

They are looking to use the immigrant caravan coming to the border as a chance to showcase how much Trump hates Hispanics. They think that they can replicate Trump’s approval pitfall from May if things are timed just right. If you consider the fact that immigration was a major platform of the Trump campaign, and the issue he polled best on, you might not want to go that route.

They are fine with their base entering any restaurant where a Republican politician is dining and make it impossible for them to enjoy a meal. They are okay with Antifa all but taking over Portland, Oregon and disrupting the lives of regular Americans. They are pushing heavily the idea that America is in absolute chaos and they want to right the ship.

Of course, they will not acknowledge that it is not the Republicans who are instigating this chaos.

I do not understand the strategy… actually, I’m not quite sure there is a strategy anymore. These aren’t the tactics of a winning team. These are the tactics of a party that is throwing ideas against the wall to see what sticks at this point.

The enthusiasm gap has narrowed. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot by pursuing the insanity instead of promoting rationality, and they are incentivizing Republicans who are always on the fence about Trump – me included – to take a stand. I may never pull the lever for Trump, but they have encouraged me to never, ever consider them as a reasonable alternative or a means of keeping Trump in check.

The “blue wave” everyone was predicting? The Democrats may be scaring it away.