It is an immutable law of our political physics that as soon as an election is called, the DUP finds itself powerless to resist being sucked into the doom-orbit of unionism’s more hardline elements.
That’s why the party is now wavering on the Safeguarding the Union deal it cooked up with the British government in January.
In the space of a few short months, this has gone from being presented as a defining triumph to something that the DUP is no longer really all that sure about.
It is tempting to dismiss all this as another example of the existential angst hardwired into so much of political unionism, a neurosis only deepened by the Brexit fantasy.
But we must also acknowledge that it could yet have much wider implications for the rest of us. The DUP thought nothing of making us endure a two-year Stormont boycott because of its Irish Sea border dilemma. Could it do the same thing again?
The front-man for what some have characterised as a ‘DUP pivot’, but which others might describe as an unhinged approach, is Gavin Robinson, who is defending his seat as East Belfast MP.
Gavin Robinson declares that selling Safeguarding the Union could have been “grounded in a greater degree of cautious realism”… The DUP still lacks the humility to admit it lacked realism, cautious or otherwise, about its Brexit fantasy
Mr Robinson assumed the role of interim leader in April when Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigned from the DUP after being charged with sex offences.
He is now stuck with a job that no-one else wants. Mr Robinson was confirmed as party leader on Wednesday night during a meeting held in Lisburn, in the heart of the Lagan Valley constituency where the DUP faces a fight to retain the Westminster seat vacated by Sir Jeffrey.
The stupefying ebullience so often seen at these DUP jamborees was muted. The party is spooked by the ‘protocol implementer’ jibes of TUV leader Jim Allister and his fellow travellers, who specialise in arranging embarrassingly feeble protests.
Instead of ignoring them, it is clear that the DUP is going to attempt to pander to these fringe opponents.
Its offering to voters in this election will be the thin gruel of going through the motions of refighting battles about EU law and the sea border - that will be the same EU law and sea border that Mr Robinson himself was front and centre of telling us had been sorted by Safeguarding the Union.
He now declares that selling the deal could have been “grounded in a greater degree of cautious realism”.
That sentiment applies to the entire Brexit project, of course. The DUP still lacks the humility to admit it lacked realism, cautious or otherwise, about that shambles.
And if the DUP itself is confused about why it left Stormont much less the basis for its return, what hope for the rest of us?
