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The hell does any of that mean? Let's go step by step:
Does it look like he's talking to Trump supporters even to express contempt?
Because arguments are to be considered on their merits, for one thing, and there is demonstrably some merit to DeSantis but zero merit to Trump as a political representative? Because this attitude makes you extremely vulnerable to trivial manipulations?
What logic exactly?
And why would I care whether you care or not? Scratch that, what even is this inane macho train of thought about caring or not caring, this one-upmanship? Hanania talks of Trumpists from a zoological perspective; I am using you as a reference point. You are demanding gestures of unconditional respect for your position as advance payment for deigning to engage at all. But this precludes the possibility of any conscious change on your part, thus makes debating you a waste of time.
Still. Let me elucidate my opinion: the point is not to convince you of anything. The point is to convince those on the margins of the Red Tribe that your kind is a lost cause, that you are completely impossible to rescue from your self-satisfied vulgarity, your boomer Facebook group Qanon fetishes, your perverse addiction to throwing tantrums and toothless LARPing.
Hanania probably does believe that, hypothetically, you may be enticed by an alpha male chimp who physically assaults Trump, or by some other bait. This is all peripheral. At the core of that piece is Hanania's desire to have smarter Republicans – not just RINOs, but every Republican with more brains and greater self-restraint than an average Chechen teenager has – join him in losing compassion for you, for their own family and culture, and plot for disenfranchising you from here on out. It is a long-term agenda that is meant to outlive Trump as a political figure, regardless of how well he does in 2024.
I'm not really seeing that expressed in that piece. Okay, he does think Republicans make tons of mistakes, systematically, because they're not trying to address root issues. But most of the piece just seems like he's saying that Republicans want to be entertained. And he's lumped himself among that to some extent, he's clearly enjoying the whole show, writing that piece etc. It looks to me more to be a mix of just a suggestion of the style of thing that Desantis needs to do to win people over—the professed purpose, may be some, at least, of the actual purpose—and secondly, to talk about what he thinks the appeal of Trump actually is to people.
Hanania is also here endorsing some of the tactics that you seem to be saying he actually is trying to oppose. My current read on him is that he likes the show, and cares about policy and accurate analysis.
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If arguments are to be considered on their merits, than Hananias argument is garbage even when there's more merit to DeSantis as a representative.
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