Yes they can, with proper moderator action. See for instance this thread, where I asked about the meaning of a word that Trump said. I requested that we not make it about Trump, just the meaning of the word, and Colibri backed me up. Thread went pretty smoothly.
In my recent thread I requested that we not make it about Pence in person, just the meaning of the words. It could have been just as smooth as the first one, but the mods chose to permit hijack and threadshit to happen, then noted me for complaining.
I’ve stated it several times, but once more:
Pence said the following words: “Well, there might be someone else I’d prefer more.” Some people interpreted this as equivalent to “I shall be making my own bid for the Presidency”. I asked if that is a reasonable inference.
And most of the replies were just attacks on Pence that had nothing to do with the question. Any good moderator would have told them to stop the hijack.