CL 1/28

The intended readers are mostly subscribers of Time magazine which are likely middle age and up. They are addressed in an over-the-top, in-your-face kind of manner. He uses heavy sarcasm throughout the piece pretending to treat his readers harshly but rewarding them if they’re able to read between the lines.
From a general perspective they seem to have an interest in baseball in common otherwise the analogy to real world events wouldn’t be able to hold water. On a deeper level they must have similar political leanings and an interest in American foreign policy/wars. Possibly left leaning audience and anti-war. Unhappy with defense spending habits and oppressive behaviors.
Stein is using a strong amount of refutation in his piece. He takes on the position of the other side to portray the faults in that perspective. In doing so, however, he does not really portray it fairly which works good for his target audience since they already agree with him. If he were trying to persuade people to his views this approach would most likely fail horribly.
Stein is addressing an audience that shares the same views/beliefs as him and does so to reinforce those common values. He does this knowing that readers are already of similar political leanings given the history of Time magazine and other pieces published therein. The underlying tone of Stein’s article also sounds like he’s preaching to the choir.

Jake’s Expanse