It’s hard to see how Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, helped himself with last week’s vote not to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green’s committee assignments.

Reed has made it clear he is seriously considering a challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for governor, but that is a race that will require Reed appealing to middle-of-the-road Democrats to win. Reed’s vote not to strip Green, a Georgia Republican who hasn’t found a loony idea she isn’t willing to amplify, is just ammunition for Cuomo to use to lambast Reed during a gubernatorial campaign.

Consider that Green has idicated support for executing Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry; has promoted on social media support for debased conspiracy theories including the Pizzagate conspiracy that alleged Clinton and other Democrats were running a human-trafficking and pedophilia ring out of a pizzeria in Washington, D.C.; and claimed that mass shootings were staged events.

To his credit, Reed has called out Green’s prior statements as “appalling” and said she doesn’t carry those beliefs moving forward, think about this outside of political boxes. How can anyone support a policy maker who is so easily misled? Green herself has said stumbled on QAnon theories in 2017 and began posting the theories on Facebook because she was upset about things and felt she could not trust the government.

“The problem with that is, though, is I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true, and I would ask questions about them and talk about them, and that is absolutely what I regret,” she said, according to CNN.

How can Reed, or any Republican, back a representative regardless of their political affiliation who is so easily swindled by such obvious lies? How can they be trusted to make policy? Why would you want their opinion on any policy matter if they can’t find out within a matter of seconds that the Pizzagata conspiracy was false?

It’s one thing for Reed to vote in favor of Green keeping her committee posts if he plans to stay in the House of Representatives for a while. But Reed seems to be aiming for a new job, and backing Green doesn’t make any sense in that light. Reed aims to be a centrist, and we’re sure that is part of what he hopes could appeal to centrist Democrats. Backing a whack-a-doodle like Marjorie Taylor Green ensures Reed won’t get the votes he needs to beat Cuomo.