They're not using the word "criticism", but they're being very clear about it: > Throughout the paper, we focus on the problems among conservatives, because th

They're not using the word "criticism", but they're being very clear about it: > Throughout the paper, we focus on the problems among conservatives, because these are the problems that are most urgent to American democracy. Our prescriptions are not intended to weaken the Republican Party, but instead to redirect its energies so that its extremists don’t undermine a basic shared understanding of democracy. That first sentence defines what the authors think is the biggest problem. The second sentence narrows and refines the scope of the problem, it doesn't apologize for the text.