Random thoughts:

I couldn't do that debate, I would have exploded with frustration and indignation much earlier, and sat there saying "But what on Earth do you mean by that ? You're saying all these things and they don't mean anything!"

The thinker namedropping alone would be enough to drive me crazy.

I'm sure that it seems to Frank that he won that debate.

The map/territory misunderstanding is absolutely central to all the errors he makes.