The people throwing these kinds of numbers around don't actually care about reality, it's not worth engaging them.
At least he had an appreciation for statistics, and accurate body counts.
I have no idea what you think I'm defending, but whatever.
Ironically, not really, the numbers people typically refer to were calculated by extrapolating birthrate dynamics, not an actual accurate body count.
Applying the same method to calculate the victims of the Great Depression will yield about 7 mil dead. I remember some Americans being real pissed when some Russian historian did this kind trolling, mirroring Stalin-related western propaganda.