> Strangely he had nothing to say…

no, it's not strange, it's normal for them.. everyone in my family, except me of course, are MAGA Republicans, and unfortunately a few life-long friends fell under the MAGA spell.

whenever I would confront one of them with unassailable proof that whatever they were just spouting was a total lie fabricated out of whole cloth, to a person their reaction is the same - they freeze and don't say a word..

it's like their body jumps as if scared or shocked and their brain just shuts off.. I guess to prevent the truth from sinking in and fixing some of their brain damage or something.