Republicans face a brutal midterm election cycle. President Donald Trump is plumbing unprecedented lows. Their House majority is essentially gone. Even the Senate is far more competitive than it has any right to be.

So pretend for a moment you’re a Republican strategist trying to find some reason for optimism, some way to stem the blue tide. You might push Congress to pass popular legislation and let Trump sign it. You might impress upon Trump the importance of just shutting the hell up—or, at the very least, talking about nothing but the cost of living. You might build the most robust get-out-the-vote operation imaginable at a time when even Republican voters seem deeply ambivalent.

But nope. Republicans had a different idea, one I wrote about back in May. They were going all in on America 250.

“We will make sure that people are aware of the fact that we are the party of patriotism and love of country, and the Democrats are just—I mean, there’s polling to support me on this—they are not proud to be Americans. It’s very obvious, and they can’t help themselves,” one anonymous Republican strategist told NOTUS.

The theory was simple: wrap themselves in enough American flags and voters would remember that Republicans love America while Democrats supposedly don’t.

The problem is, they don’t know patriotism. They mistake it for branding.

I’m deeply patriotic. I served in the U.S. Army. My son serves today as an infantryman. As an immigrant, I understand how differently my life could have turned out had my family never come here.

I don’t take any of that for granted. But my patriotism is rooted in America’s promise—not the myth that it has already fulfilled it. Loving your country means wanting it to live up to its ideals, not pretending it’s already perfect.

Republicans aren’t celebrating America. They outsourced the entire 250th anniversary to Trump.

Instead of telling the story of a nation founded on imperfect but enduring ideals, they turned America’s birthday into another chapter in the Trump personality cult. In their telling, America isn’t exceptional because of its Constitution, its democracy, or its people. It’s exceptional because Trump is president.

That’s a risky bet when Trump is one of the least popular presidents in modern history.

I mean, look at the spectacle they’ve produced.

Trump was handed the easiest assignment in American politics: Help the country celebrate its 250th birthday. Somehow, he turned even that into another exercise in narcissism. From his ridiculous gladiator fight, to the puke-colored—and apparently puke-smelling—Reflecting Pool, to the partisan spectacle of his sparsely attended anniversary concert, to the hilarious flop of his Great American State Fair, every event has celebrated Trump more than America.

And because no Trump vanity project is complete without his face on it, Republicans have even proposed a commemorative $250 bill featuring his portrait. Apparently even America’s birthday wasn’t allowed to outshine him.

He has botched the whole thing so badly that only about half of Americans now say they’re excited about the nation’s milestone birthday.

It’s remarkable that Republicans believed America’s 250th birthday would become their great midterm advantage. The premise was flawed from the start. Even the most successful national celebration wouldn’t make voters forget rising prices, corruption, or the issues that actually shape elections. But Republicans couldn’t even manage a competently run celebration, which continues to surprise no one except for Republicans themselves. They took what should have been America’s birthday party and turned it into another Trump rally.

America 250 was never going to save the GOP’s electoral chances. It’s just funny that they thought it would.

Markos Moulitsas is founder and editor of the blogging website Daily Kos and author of three books.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos