I'm sure there are plenty of conservatives who would like to argue for this decision, but aren't prepared to make that argument, because it's not about logic to

I'm sure there are plenty of conservatives who would like to argue for this decision, but aren't prepared to make that argument, because it's not about logic to them: it's about belief. Maybe that's because the conservative with the compelling argument feels unwelcome. Or maybe it's because the compelling argument doesn't exist. Making a less compelling argument under the guise of "devil's advocate" is more comfortable, because when you are writing a flawed argument you don't have to fix the flaws: you can let them sit there.