Verbal interaction shouldn't feel like a blood sport.
Cognitive dissonance appears to be rampant these days, particularly among Dem's holding government positions. Other terms for cognitive dissonance are, thought disordered, cognitively disordered, and from the perspective of the average person, "totally confounding and just plum, fucking crazy."
Being around someone who's thought disordered means, when you make a statement, they respond or react to it in a manner that's not at all cohesive with what you've conveyed. It may not be completely off-topic, but it sounds like a non-sensical reply that makes you think they didn't at all comprehend what You said~ or completely missed the point you attempted to make.
Thought disordered people (or the cognitively challenged) are not BAD people, and they may not even be unintelligent. When you encounter this type of phenomenon, it's because you are trying to interact with someone who's developmentally arrested.
Due to this lack of development (ie, emotional growth) they cannot identify with nor relate to you effectively. In short, they are cerebrally and emotionally decades younger than you, and you're quite literally, SPEAKING A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE.
This strange and troubling incongruity may happen with your parent, friend or lover~ but it's always due to the same issue; ONE of you has developed normally, and the other has not.
If you can think of this issue along the lines of sharing your innermost thoughts, dreams, feelings, struggles, etc. with a TODDLER, might you anticipate or expect a circumspect, well-considered, empathic, satisfying verbal reply from that 2 - 3 year old??
Cognitive dissonance or distortion is often a trait we observe among people with Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD traits. It's the lack of emotional development that interferes with one's ability to respond or react appropriately to various stimuli~ including effective, adult verbal communication or interaction.
I'm just here to educate ya. Hope it's useful.