Some people respond to only the best form of an argument. They tend to be philosophers.

Some people respond to only the worst form of an argument. They tend to be politicians.

Some people respond to something in between, to the non-best form of an argument. They tend to be political theorists, or at least political theorists like me. The reason being that the non-best is the argument that lives. It’s the argument that has traction and energy. It’s the argument that is truly political: the philosopher and the politician feed off it. Its non-best-ness needs to be understood on its own terms, as a phenomenon in its own right.

Then there are people who respond to and critique an entirely fanciful form of an argument that they have constructed completely in their own heads. They tend to be on social media.