Exactly this. This should mean something like stopping rhetorical attacks on right wing followers and focusing in on leaders and ideas

And then extend that to “if you’ve been lied to on X maybe they also tricked you on Y”. Don’t give up Y to try to bring them in

He’s hedging and still trying to support some/most of the Trump line, but he isn’t doing the usual 100% blind support of Trump

Look through his posts. He posted cuts close to that. He’s been criticizing more than just this tweet

https://xcancel.com/realalexjones

This is the longest I’ve seen his base angry at Trump & Republicans for. He got ratioed on Truth Social for the first time ever. He’s also doing something he rarely does - telling his base directly that their concerns don’t matter to him. Republicans usually manufacture away around issues that still pretends to care about their concerns, but they are not doing that well here

I can’t fully predict the future think this leaves a wound that not all the base comes back from and that matters. If say 10-20% of MAGA people don’t return, that weakens his grip on power. Some percentage going away enables a permissions structure for future criticism on other issues. Wannabe authoritarians need zero criticism to be acceptable to their followers because the tiniest bit can snow ball

Also to note for others: NYC only has ranked choice for mayor in primaries (or special elections), so there is no ranked choice in this general election