This reminds me of a couple things. One is that this is somewhat similar to the way gays used to respond to homophobic public sentiment back in the day but we always had either a positive or ridiculous spin on it. Basically the public would have this over the top stereotype of how gay people were and you would respond by just being that stereotype but it would end up being funny because the person is upset over something dumb. Like I'm thinking of the video of a work office and people are lined up to use the photocopier. The dramatic gay comes flying in pushing everyone out of the way and he's saying urgently "move I'm gay!". Then he copies his document. That sort of reinforces the stereotype but it is harmless. I also get reminded of gays gentrifying bad neighborhoods. Basically gays got excluded from polite society and they would move into bad neighborhoods then fix up the houses and make the neighborhoods desirable for middle class people. Some of those people would be homophobic and say things and the response was basically yes we are coming to decorate your house and make the neighborhood safe for your kids.

These people have that same mentality but they are basically reinforcing the worst fears of the public. Instead of making the critics look ridiculous, they are making their defenders look ridiculous.