A long-running attack campaign against left-wing streamer Hasan Piker has become the Republican midterm strategy, and Democrats are split on whether to fight it or feed it.

• Republicans have little to run on, so they are running against Piker, the DSA, and left-wing candidates instead of the economy or foreign policy.
• Establishment Democrats keep condemning him on cue, with Jon Ossoff and others pressed for months to disavow him by donors and party consultants.
• Some Democrats would rather lose the Michigan Senate race than see Abdul El-Sayed win, even if it costs them Senate control.
• Left-wing insurgents keep winning anyway, outspent heavily in Michigan, Florida, and Minnesota, which is why the attacks have escalated.
• The bigger casualty is trust in mainstream news, which is amplifying out-of-context clips instead of covering the underlying policy fights.

Outlook: Expect the attacks to intensify through the midterms, with a possible defamation suit against CNN's Scott Jennings as the pushback.