I don't know, I wouldn't call 'inventing some new bullshit axis without defining it but arbitrarily making it veer off so it's close to the far right' "smart" or even a sidestep. The reason horshoe theory works so well is its simplicity and ability to make centrists look inevitably and always correct by default. This thing doesnt give any reason why it would be preferable to be positioned at one node over any other, just that "tankies bad because they're inexplicably close to this other group I don't like." It reeks of trying too hard but still providing zero explanatory power.

I'm analyzing it way more than it deserves, but it strikes me as quite the opposite of smart, whereas horshoe theory, as untrue as it is, really is a clever and unfortunately powerful device for discrediting the left.