Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that Democrats across the country were boosting far-right candidates in Republican primaries “in hopes that extremists will be easier for Democrats to beat in November.” In California’s Central Valley, Democrats have even gone so far as running a campaign ad attacking the incumbent Republican congressman for voting to impeach Donald Trump. In other races, like in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial primary and a Colorado Senate contest, they’re highlighting candidates who participated in the January 6 riot or who endorse the claim that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election — the same sorts of candidates that far-right plutocrats like Peter Thiel are supporting. All while the national party tries to use the January 6 hearings to paint Donald Trump and his wing of the GOP as existential threats to democracy and a right-wing Supreme Court repeals abortion rights and other important protections.

The logic of this strategy is clear: if the Republican candidate is unpalatable enough, voters who would otherwise vote Republican will go blue instead.

This tactic suggests that Democratic worries about the fate of our republic, in the face of a radical right Supreme Court undermining crucial rights and state Republican parties openly declaring the 2020 election rigged, are perhaps less than totally sincere: Democrats seem willing to promote far-right zealots and further endanger our democracy if that will help them win a few seats in the next election. But put that aside. More importantly, this approach is at best extremely shortsighted and at worst dangerous.