It is an interesting shift that at this point in the game, they are not open for debate. They don't even prepare for it or recommend it. Instead, they just assume they are right, look for pre-disposed interest or circumstantial weakness, and move on. They attack any source of criticism within their ranks like an immune system. They isolate themselves in an echo chamber and congratulate each other for doing so.
They're like a population that has become isolated and incestuous. Growth has stagnated. Food has diminished in quality, quantity, and variety. Sexual partners are to be found only in the group to keep up identity and integrity, but this has limited growth and solidified the identity as weird to everybody else. The main source of water for this population has been a steady stream of bad news about the outside world. They love bad news, but now that stream is rising and threatening their own infrastructure. They hold the flood waters off with levies here and there, and they attack any of their own who speak out about the dire situation. Eventually, the levies will break, and the population will break up and evolve. And the world spins on.