Your first clause is the point, Ake. "Deserve" is the word; as in the incomparable Jane Austen's formulation, "she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition."
He is short on real argument, but long on mere assertion. A troll who should not be fed, IMO. Why not just leave him to chunter away to his stupid self?
Thus another germane quotation to adduce: Beatrice to Benedick in first scene of Much Ado About Nothing: "I wonder you would still be talking, Signor Benedick. Nobody marks you."