That's the second time someone told me the villains were inane. :-)

They were supposed to be inane; the whole series is about something else, and
the only point of sticking the inane villains in is to have Kameko be able to
complain about being rescued.  This first episode is as atypical of the
series as Sailor Moon #1 is of its, if not more so.  Next episode, Kameko
gets a Sailor Senshi transformation, and after that, we start the time travel.

Oh, they weren't trying to make anyone believe the speech, they were just
trying to get their propaganda on worldwide holo-television. :-)  (Though I
suppose if I have to explain it I could make it a bit clearer.)

The Masons are a group commonly blamed in conspiracy theories.