Among those states to which you allude, only TX being closer than OH was truly surprising. We knew that GA and AZ were moving toward us. They were not "unwinnable" and no one thought they were.But really, Trump went to Michigan because he was desperate and his kids fucked around with 270towin during flights around to different campaign spots. And it worked.
Not that we'll do anything in... Oklahoma.... but seriously go elsewhere. Every dem no matter what was going to Ohio.. guarantee it
Yet there are TONS of previously thought *unwinnable red states* we actually lost by less than we lost Ohio in 2016. So numbers wise I don't think it's the stupidest thing to go to places that haven't even been campaigned in for a general since like Nixon when he visited every state against Kennedy and see if voters have a weird or unexpected reaction to it
We still lost OK, KS, NE, WV, MT et. al by at least 25 points.
There is no point in directing any resources to them, at least at the presidential level. None. That is loony talk.