It appears that the state of New York is preparing to arrest former President Donald Trump on charges of violating campaign finance laws during his initial run for the presidency in 2016. And while some have speculated that an arrest at his eponymous Manhattan tower would provide Trump with a short-term political boost, such an incident would only favor Democrats in the long term. After all, what’s good for Trump is good for an establishment that has relied upon the 45th president to be a convenient political foil and ratings draw for the past decade.

As with any major story, news of the arrest will play differently across different populations. The less politically engaged will likely take the development at face value: Trump broke the law (which appears likely, but more on that later) and now, he faces the consequences.

But for the more astute observer, Trump’s arrest, which will have been ordered by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is a partisan Democrat, will backfire on Democrats. Many, such as Elon Musk , have speculated that the move will cast Trump in a sympathetic light and convince much of the public that the Democratic Party is tyrannical. The actual criminal charge against Trump — that he inappropriately shifted money around in 2016 in order to buy the silence of a porn star with whom he had an affair, thus breaking campaign finance law — is pathetically anticlimactic. And it doesn’t help that Democrats have been haphazardly accusing Trump of various crimes for the past seven years. An arrest on this particular charge will amount to a remarkable admission of failure by his pursuers.

It is true an arrest would benefit Trump’s immediate efforts to regain the Republican nomination, since it would provide him with the national spotlight and give precious credence to his innumerable grievances. But Trump’s good fortune in the GOP primary would only benefit Democrats in the long run. A Trump victory is what they go to bed dreaming about each night. Having beaten the former president like a drum for three consecutive election cycles, Trump is their favored foe. They’ll suffer any indignity so long as he is elevated to the top of the GOP ticket. The prospect of President Joe Biden squaring off on a debate stage against Ron DeSantis, the wildly popular governor from Florida, gives Democrats agita. They’d much prefer to tangle with the devil they know — and know how to beat.

Anyone who thinks this is far-fetched should consider the 2022 midterm elections, during which Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups spent millions propping up unelectable MAGA candidates in GOP primaries. From one side of their mouths, they wailed over the supposed threat MAGA candidates posed to democracy and then spent millions of dollars funding their campaigns. It was an ingenious and deeply cynical operation, nothing short of a political masterstroke. They’d be fools not to try it again.

For now, we must all keep cool. The chicken little Democrats are hoping to bring out the very worst in each of us. Let’s not give it to them.

Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner and the founder of Crush the College Essay. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, the National Catholic Register, and the American Spectator.