I may be cynical (or maybe realistic) but it’s certainly possible the press knew exactly what they are doing and did it for that reason.
Maybe the 72 year old Texas guy could have asked to remain incognito, and they would respect that. On the other hand one wonders why news outlets aren’t held responsible for any retaliation or revenge that might occur. On the other other hand (I’m running out) I’d think they would have counsel to warn about such things in today’s climate.
They probably outed him on purpose, and feel good about themselves for doing it. Too many patronizing Libs see every Thug as an unfortunate UnderDog, being repeatedly victimized by the white patriarchy.
We laugh about it here, but for many of these young zombies, they accept the rhetoric as fact.
This is the attitude drummed into them starting in the First Grade. Some can resist it, think for themselves, while most cannot.
Jerry Pournelle used “on the gripping hand” in that third case. He and Larry Niven wrote an alien first contact novel called The Mote in God’s Eye that involved aliens with a specialized 3rd arm/hand for gripping stuff they were working on. Great book, worthwhile.