I have decided that my current working definition is far too broad, and should be narrowed down to exclude the midwits, thus focusing on the much more intelligent and exponentially more dangerous individuals who devote themselves to propagating bad ideas (and, quite frequently, are the very people who invented these ideas in the first place).

Your logic is sound - if incorrect, if using history as a measure...

The structures created by the manipulators (the higher IQ's individuals - those at the the top of the pyramid) can only be dismantled by first dismantling the legitimacy of the midwits underneath them.
They are the foot soldiers .
The bureaucrats without any credibility no longer have power.
The numbers of those at 'the very top' offer no defense without any foot soldiers.

De-legitimizing those at the top is what 'we' have been doing forever - yet here we are... the fruits of that offensive (or lack of) show with stark clarity - the effectiveness of it.

By destroying the supporters of the system - through the de-legitimizing of their positions - THEN...then the whole edifice will come toppling down....