The SNP has dominated Scottish politics for sixteen years, but the party is nosediving towards defeat.
Voters have long seen the SNP as a disciplined party of the centre-left.
Now the three candidates in their leadership contest are squabbling about same sex marriage, abortion and conversion therapy.
Nicola Sturgeon largely kept her party together, but it is hard to see how the SNP can recover from one of the ugliest contests in decades.
The three TV debates between the three leadership candidates, including last night’s head to head on the BBC, showed the SNP is divided and broken.
Humza Yousaf, still reeling from Kate Forbes’ brutal attacks on his record in government, has implied his main rival is a Tory who will lose progressive voters to Labour.
Forbes has effectively said the Health Secretary is an incompetent lightweight who would be an even worse First Minister. It is impossible to see how either can serve in each other’s Cabinet.
Ash Regan, meanwhile, is a no-hoper whose barmy claims about independence thermometers and moving to a new currency within months make her party look ridiculous.
Regan and Forbes also noticeably softballed each other last night - a sign each prefers the other over Yousaf.
But back in the real world - the one inhabited by last night’s BBC audience members - the cost of living crisis is the number one concern.
Rising mortgages, sky high energy bills and costly supermarket visits keep voters awake at night. Not talk of a “voter empowerment mechanism” or a “de facto” referendum.
The cost of living crisis was mentioned in the debate, but only fleetingly.
One of the reasons the SNP has kept power is the ability of Alex Salmond and Sturgeon to keep up with the concerns of mainstream voters.
This contest has made the SNP look out of touch and consumed by their own obsessions.
Senior SNP figures worry what voters will do when the dust has settled from this extraordinarily damaging race.
The public dislikes divided parties and a harsh judgement beckons.
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