So Abdul El-Sayed, the leftist politician and doctor, dropped a campaign ad for his Michigan Senate run that was explicitly sexual. Called it "Senate Island". The point was to sell his platform, but he went full soft-core to do it. This is what the right calls "un-American" and they're not wrong to point out the absurdity. Whether you care about his politics or not, the ad was a choice. A strange one. The thing that kills me is the smugness. You'll watch centrist Democratic operatives and media figures defend this by saying the right is pearl-clutching, that sexuality isn't taboo. Sure. But El-Sayed knew exactly what he was doing, and it wasn't about breaking sexual norms. It was about shocking people into attention while claiming it's progressive. That's just marketing dressed up as principle.