Rather than engaging with the substance of these mobilisations, a significant section of liberal opinion-making has retreated into a hall of mirrors. In any healthy democracy, spontaneous civic dissent is a bridge that provides the raw material political parties must refine into institutional pressure. While the commentator gains followers, the political movement loses its footing. But scepticism must be a tool for uncovering truth, not a shield for avoiding the responsibility of political engagement. By drowning these in a sea of conspiracy, the liberal intelligentsia is not protecting the republic – it is ensuring its own irrelevance.