There’s also the fact that if these right-wing pundits don’t play the inept foil to the left within the liberal media, others will gladly do so. Don’t think of them as thought leaders - think of them as designated villains in the typical Hollywood media production.
Tom Cruise routinely decks, with one punch, the nondescript but really tough-looking villains in his movie productions. These disposable bad guys are typically played by extremely competent people who double up as stuntmen. They probably taught Cruise how to pantomime every single move he makes in the movie. You don’t really think Cruise can actually knock out even *one* of these men, do you?
Conservative pundits syndicated in liberal media outlets are like these movie villains. They routinely concede points they shouldn’t have to, merely to stay employed. Imagine if a stuntman playing a movie villain decided to fight Tom Cruise for real, and knocked him out. That would make the stuntman unemployable in the industry.
I suppose I could make peace with the idea of them as designated villains. I’d even be less angry. I’ll have to develop a more detached viewpoint first. Truth is they won’t change and they are just a piece of the puzzle that I can’t alter..