This is how Democrats can turn the much-hyped “blue wave” into barely a ripple.

This is why I tell Republicans who fear a Democratic landslide this year, “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to screw it up. We’ve got our best people working on it.”

Equality NC says it won’t support Democratic legislators who voted for an HB2 repeal bill last year. The repeal didn’t go far enough, Equality NC says.

Never mind that Governor Cooper and Democrats who voted for the bill pulled off the impossible. Despite a Republican super-majority, they erased the stain of HB2 from North Carolina.

Certainly, the bill didn’t go far enough. But it went a long way, and it went in the right direction. Now, Equality NC will hurt its best friends in the legislature and help rabidly anti-LGBTQ Republicans stay in power.

The cynic in me suspects this is more about raising money than about doing the right thing. The idealist in me feels called to say that compromise is not a dirty word, but an honorable word. It is the foundation of our democracy.

Here, it can be the downfall of Democrats.