Piker certainly fits that bill, but the downside of associating with him is significant. The internet personality has described Orthodox Jews as “inbred,” said “America deserved 9/11,” asserted “Hamas a thousand times better” than Israel and called the collapse of the Soviet Union “one of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century.” In a podcast interview with a former Obama speechwriter last week, he called the Republican Party the “biggest terrorist internationally.” Other Democrats have openly rejected his views. Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres (New York) called Piker “the poster child for the post-October 7th outbreak of antisemitism in America.”

The congressman is right. Piker’s rhetoric, moreover, reinforces caricatures Republicans have spent years attaching to Democrats: that they are weak, anti-American, extreme and culturally alienating.

Consider how the GOP is already punishing Democratic candidates for fraternizing with Piker. After the streamer appeared at a campaign rally in Michigan with U.S. Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed in early April, Republicans circulated a photo of the two men fist-bumping alongside the caption “America deserved 9/11.”

Dabbling with extremism isn’t merely wrong; it’s an unforced error. President Donald Trump is historically unpopular, and polls show Democrats on track to make huge gains in the November midterms. Giving the GOP the opportunity to tie Democratic candidates to Piker risks snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.....

The lesson of 2024 is not that Democrats should say yes to every platform or personality. It is that they must distinguish between audiences worth courting and symbols that make their opponents’ case for them.