I don’t think you got the central point. Protestants exist to protest Catholicism. A Protestant that recognises catholics as Christian’s wouldn’t be a Protestant.
Different sects of Protestantism are able to recognise other sects as Christian’s because a central tentant of Protestant practice is the personal relationship with God. So different sects of Protestants find that easier to accept. Where as Catholics practice a relationship with God that is tied to the organisation and the Pope.
Mormons are arguably a different religion altogether. Similar to how Jewish/Christian/Islam all share similar but different religious texts making them all different religions.
The intended outcome is othering.
You misunderstand reasonable. It does not mean good, more the natural conclusion given the context.
The nastiness of Trump is his appeal. They like the idea of people getting punished while they get away with it. It’s part of why his appeal is so broad. His speech’s feel like a friend making snide remarks. So they envision him punishing the people they dislike, but never them.
No one wants to admit this to themselves, never mind someone else. So they’ll tie themselves up in knots trying to justify why they like him.