Trying to argue with conservatives.
All that they’re great at is detouring, distancing, playing down, doubling-tripling down, disassociating, strawmen and more illogical fallacies. They can’t take up an honest debate unless there are rules in place that gives them any outs from being pressed when confronted with questions they can’t give truthful answers to.
Your mistake is letting it be framed as an argument at all. When trying to change the minds of the hard-headed, it’s much more in your favor to begin not with “this is what I think”, but “what do you think about…?” because the moment they feel like their values or ideas are being threatened is the moment they dig their heels in and start defending the same.
It’s a skill that takes a lot of time and effort to get right, but guiding them through challenging their own ideas on their own terms is just a lot easier to sell than telling them they’re wrong and explaining why. It doesn’t matter how well you know the subject you’re explaining or how effectively you present your information; if the person on the other end has identified you and your ideas as threats, then you have already almost certainly failed at challenging their beliefs.
Every job has a tool or tools that best get it done. I’m sure it depends on the where and when, but we don’t generally tend to bring weapons along while we’re building bridges because they’re simply not the tools needed for the job. Picking fights where you could otherwise have conversations is a rough and disappointing path if your intended destination is changing minds.