Believe me, McC more than realizes what he is doing. Many posters here take a logical approach, but unfortunately fail to consider some significant underlying factors that would render their analysis moot.
To wit, if you thought McC actually lived in his home district of T.O., you would logically assume that perhaps he would have some interest in maintaining a political future.
But, as it turns out, he actually has lived in Elk Grove (a suburb of Sacramento) since 1996. The central mentality of people from the central valley is an inferiority complex (for good reason). If McC was still in T.O. he probably would have a number of people trying to moderate his position.
But since he's now in the central valley, he's surrounded by liked minded individuals. That is, damn the big city RINOs in both the Bay Area and SoCal. It also provides him with an out - if he can pull 10-15% of the voters, he's got a ready made constituency for some new far-right party.
You see, threats of being banned from the GOP have no bearing on him anymore. The guy is operating on a totally different level. That's why AS's advisors are pushing him to the left to take on Busty and give up the far right to McC.