And with good reason, in the sense that the extreme rhetoric can be very successful. It is a way to excite the base. The trick is to avoid alienating the people who imagine themselves to be centrists.

So asking your allies to tone it down a little is a genuine risk. You have to be willing to take up the side of the people who are being harmed. Or you can accede to the harm. But you don't get to opt out of that choice -- one thing or another happens.

I opt out every day by not logging into twitter. We don't have a moral obligation to intercede in every argument.