As Trumpism becomes harder for Reagan conservatives to abide, an almost sacrilegious notion has begun to pop up on the right: For the good of conservatism (and America), Democrats must win the mid-terms.

This idea, which I first heard expressed a few months ago, has been gaining steam. “I really am a Republican In Name Only,” lamented Tom Nichols, a professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College, “because I actively want to see the Republicans defeated—soundly—in 2018 (and in 2020, if the president is not primaried out of his seat).

“I am now a member of a party I want to see cast into the political wilderness for a few years — or longer, if that’s what it takes to break the fever,” Nichols wrote way back in February.

Since Nichols’ column, other lifelong Republicans have joined him in voicing their fervent hope that Democrats win back the House in November.