I am not making the point that he didn&#x27;t literally say what people are choosing to assume he meant. I am making the point that the assumption people are making about what he meant is wildly unfounded, and is mainly useful for justifying their already-held opinions about him.<p>And I am making the point that employing this misinterpretation to criticize him undermines the important, substantive reasons to criticize him.<p>(It is somewhat ironic that you make your point by rewriting my words in a way that significantly changes their tone, and likely changes how readers would interpret them.)