A hundred naked women stood outside in Cleveland at the start of the Republican National Convention holding up mirrors to protest, well, something. Anti-Republican sentiment is often enough to unite random people in equally random publicity stunts like this one, and the “Everything She Says Means Everything” “art installation” project was tame as protests go. It may have been the calm before the storm.

More extensive protests are being planned by the established groups — Code Pink, Black Lives Matter — and their inevitable clashes with convention-goers demonstrate that identity politics are driving the only clear imperatives that the two presidential campaigns have: political correctness for Hillary Clinton and trolling for Donald Trump.

The fight over political correctness is all that partisans on either side have left. Trump is too inconsistent for any particular issue (trade, Planned Parenthood, national defense) to be a point of ideological debate, and Clinton’s frequently shifting policies receive tepid support on the Left.

Democratic voters can rally around being offended by Trump more enthusiastically than they can rally around Clinton, and those on the Right are only too pleased to fire insults at the despised former first lady. Republicans trying to stay out of the fray but support their candidate have kept their heads low, endorsing him without mentioning his name.

Trump and his supporters have turned trolling into their bread and butter. They attack practically anything and anyone who is part of “the establishment,” a term which can encompass various members of either party, global figures, financial leaders, or many other things. The PC Police, for their part, are thrilled to have opponents to whom they can react with horror without even having to do any digging. Trump and his minions supply all the ammunition that the protest-happy Left could ever desire. Without that, Clinton and her supporters would not have a resonant message.

Clinton’s struggle has not just been to rally the leftists who had a love affair with Bernie Sanders, but to persuade the Left’s less ideologically committed voters to come out to vote. Scandals, flip-flopping, and a sketchy record all work against Clinton, but Trump is her ace in the hole. Left-leaning voters and independents will watch Trump’s antics for the next several months, and the more he worries them the more likely they are to vote for a Democrat that they do not really like.

When tensions ran high in 1968, protesters focused on the Democratic convention because they anticipated change could come through the Democratic party. This year, Trump has managed to be so consistently offensive that he is ensuring — despite serious unease with Clinton from within her own party — that the Left is keeping its crosshairs squarely on him.

Trump welcomes their outrage because it fits his campaign’s anti–political correctness brand. His top strategist Paul Manafort may be right that Cleveland protesters could help Trump tactically — especially if they turn ugly — but attention on Trump’s antics will ultimately work for Clinton.

In 1968, Nixon benefited from being the “law-and-order candidate,” and Trump has explicitly positioned himself to do the same. But he is not exhibiting Nixon’s political skill, and he has to draw many more people into his coalition if he is to win. Instead, he is repulsing people he might otherwise win over by projecting none of the steadiness and strength that would give him a law-and-order image. Only his fanatical supporters can applaud his picking fights with the media and stoking ethnic tensions, though Clinton is certainly enjoying it behind the scenes. Trumpism adds legitimacy to the forces of political correctness, and Clinton stands to reap the benefits.

Neither candidate stands out for what they do well. On the symbolism of political correctness, the candidates were made for each other: Trump needs an unpopular female opponent to belittle, and Clinton needs a churlish demagogue in order to look like the adult. As this battle rages on, Trump’s sky-high disapproval numbers will help Clinton to emerge as the less-offensive candidate for a plurality of Americans.