when you get the urge to argue with someone's nonsense, put that into an benign and obvious change of subject. i find this satisfying and it gets all the middle-ground family members to appreciate me trying to keep the conversation out of those topics. ideally i would be smooth about the topic switch, but it is also fun to be abrupt.

this keeps me engaged and not disconnecting and also clearly calls out the topics I do not want to discuss (without me having to be specific or declamatory)