It's more than just amusing - I think it gets to the heart of what arguments like this aim to achieve. They're not about how terrible tactics like this are in g

It's more than just amusing - I think it gets to the heart of what arguments like this aim to achieve. They're not about how terrible tactics like this are in general, but about how awful it is that they're being used in the service of the wrong political ideology and goals (that is, not the author's political ideology) and how not only does the full force of the government need to be used to stop this but not doing so is actually undermining democracy and the legitimacy of of the system itself. They're also part of a broader idea that the legitimacy of democracy itself depends on whether the party supported by the pundits and journos wins.