National only has itself to blame for the pickle it is in right now.
The pickle is deciding the right time to roll Simon Bridges. He's not the right guy for the job. Never was.
It's been obvious from the start. He's languished in the polls, never scoring more than 12 per cent in the preferred PM rankings. He's been the subject of persistent coup rumours. He's regularly made a hash of things, most recently that Facebook post.
In truth, the Facebook post wasn't offensive. Bridges only levelled the same criticism others already had. Same with his criticism of the Government including beneficiaries in its initial Covid assistance package. Others were saying the same thing. It was valid for the Opposition to raise it. Bridges' problem isn't what he says, it's how he says it. It's the intensity and the tone. He's like someone talking too loudly with headphones on. His words might make sense but they need to drop a few levels. The fact it isn't obvious to him that he needs to balance criticism with reading the room means he doesn't get the basics of the job.
The appeal of rolling Bridges is clearly growing in the National caucus. Those rumours didn't come from nowhere. Someone put them out there to destabilise Bridges and I'd guess it's the very same group who've done it at least twice before. This time around, the difference is that other members of the caucus aren't shutting the rumours down completely. The message is there's no coup right now, but Bridges isn't doing well enough.