How to steelman an argument you disagree with

“The strongest case for them isn't the one you hear shouted. It's this: the people who want more housing built are watching a generation priced out of the town they grew up in, and every year of delay is another year someone can't start a life there. That's not greed. It's urgency, and my answer has to deal with it.”

↳Leading from the value they're protecting rather than the conclusion they reached produces the version their smartest defender would nod at — and a case built on someone's motive can only be beaten by caricature.

“Before I make their case, here's the weakest part of mine: I can't tell you where the school places come from. And that is exactly what people defending the character of a place are worried about — not the look of it, the infrastructure that showed up thirty years late last time. Until I can answer that, they're right to resist.”

↳Naming your own weak link first forces an honest version instead of a flattering one, and it removes the tell — an audience can hear the difference between a case you've stress-tested and one you've dressed up to knock down.