I think you have the right lens. This is "blue tribe member discovers existence of grays, and denounces them as not true blues". Blue tribe be wary, the grays

I think you have the right lens. This is "blue tribe member discovers existence of grays, and denounces them as not true blues". Blue tribe be wary, the grays are among us and can be hard to tell apart. At first glance they often look like us, believe many of the "right" things. But something is... off? How can we spot grays? Well, grays (as almost the definition of their in-group) are supposed to value the substance of an argument more than appearances so if you say something nonsensical about, for example, race, you can smoke them out if they don't uncritically agree with you like a proper blue should. They can't help themselves! These optically challenged idiots will try to do _math_ on what you said, or something equally silly. It's perfect. A side benefit of this identification process is that you get to call them racist. Since gray tribe is vastly overrepresented here compared to general NYT readership I think this also explains the reaction of many commenters. Disclaimer: not a blue or red, probably a gray.