You should allow your opposition to at least believe they have an alternative to digging in and fighting you to the bitter end. Even if you have no intention of allowing them to escape or surrender, you should let them believe it's still possible.
There was an alternative though. The alternative was for this guy to not make a cringy blog post about his past anti-semitism, and simply not talk about it.
The solution to people having horrible ideas in the past, is not for them to make giant, public renouncements.
Instead, the solution is for those people to be ashamed enough about their past positions, that they won't even admit that they held them.
That is a really good solution for most people, as most people are not going to have every little detail of their past interrogated. It is very much possible for people with these bad ideas, to merely stop having those bad ideas, pretend like they never had them, and join productive society.
I don't mean to be pedantic, but stomping an anthill wouldn't be 'winning' you would be pressed into your own retreat pretty quickly.
I believe the quote holds true, leave an out they will retreat or at least try. Cutoff all egress and it's a fight to the death.
Or was that what you were saying and I misunderstood? Or was I just wrong on all accounts?