For intellectuals like Kristol, there could be some appeal in consolidating a sane center-left and freezing out the wokesters: reviving the Clintonite tendency among pocketbook African-American voters who chose Biden over progressive ideologues. With the Republicans becoming a more natural home for cultural populism, a center-left could consolidate around expertise, research over conspiracy theory, and policy over grievance.

However, even if the gamble of moving to the center-left paid off most of the time, the shift would certainly mean giving up on any form of judicial or social conservatism. It would mean favoring a government that was less constrained by the Constitution and giving up on pro-life politics.

Now, almost selfishly, I wish the red dogs had bite. If Kristol and friends could make a move into the Democratic Party, blunt its left-wing edge, and moderate it on several issues, then the legacy of the Never Trump movement would be to dramatically push the center of gravity in America to the right. And it could even make it easier for my own politics to get space in the Republican Party.