So, considering all, I think the LM managed to develop a substantial animosity with their 'everything is fine'
PR policy, where a more measured and cautious approach would yield a milder public response and perhaps a degree of sympathy from a wider audience than just hard-core fans.
I see the other side of the same coin. I see a "public response" that has generally been "mild". The "animosity" comes from the "hard-core"
detractors, not the public. And seemingly nothing will dissuade those hard-core detractors. I for example am not even a fan of the F-35, never mind a "hard core" fan. The program and the airplane it produced has many flaws. Some likely insurmountable. My view of theF-35 is generally similar to the USN view. It has an important role to play in the overall modern combat environment, but it fills only one niche in that environment and does so at the expense of others. My gripe is and has been with the vitriol expressed by some here which on more than one occasion has simply been over the top.
In my view the "hard core" detractors are making the highest claims about the F-35 rather than LM, like that it is supposed to be an air superiority fighter. And they are doing so as a straw man. Easy to knock down, but not congruent with reality.