I disagree. It reads to me like a "good cop, bad cop" sort of deal. When it came to the actual critique of anna, who is at the center of this- all of this is directly her fault- he completely softballs it. "Oh, gosh, she's just a woman! She doesn't know any better :)". There's infinitely more vitriol for basil than for the people actively trying to smuggle tranny acceptance in. Why is that? Why is he being soft on them in the first place?