I’ve noticed this too, even from friends who support him. I think the reason for the defensiveness is simple. They realize he is a glass cannon - powerful in some respects, impractically fragile in others.. He makes some very cogent, valid points about liberty and limited government. He also makes some indefensible Lyndon LaRouche type magical mystery tours. Don’t kick the wheels on the glass cannon. They want it to shoot before it breaks.
“Don’t kick the wheels on the glass cannon.”
I think it’s more basic than this. I’ve seen the same sensitivity with single-issue activists, who are so personally invested in their cause-du-jour that they lose their personal identities.
You don’t dare point out to an Earth First! activist the harm they’re doing in pursuit of utopia. You don’t dare point out the racism and sexism inherent in “affirmative action”. You don’t dare point out their intolerance of heterosexuals to gay activists.
When people lose their identities from fusing themselves into a cause or candidate, that’s all they have left. And shaking their foundation may bring unpredictable results.
“They realize he is a glass cannon ...”
New imagery for me. I like it.