I need a word like "confound," or "confuse" but with an important nuance

Question

The word needs to mean confound or confuse, but with ignorance on the part of the confused that they are indeed, confused. We as spectators can tell they are coming to wrong conclusions based on misinformation or reasoning, but they as the subjects are unaware of this and are bumbling forward.

I thought about "misinformed" but that doesn't entail the process of the continued bumbling, but only shows the cause. Basically, I want process but with ignorance.

Illus: Picture an out of touch boss having a meeting with his workers. He is ignorant of the state of his company and doesn't have the skills to lead anyway, but he confidently gives a 3 hour meeting on what should be done. Eyes roll. I'm looking for words that describe the boss's continued misguided presentation. Maybe that's it...."misguided"

Answer 1

For a single word, I would use clueless:

[Merriam-Webster]

: completely or hopelessly bewildered, unaware, ignorant, or foolish
// clueless about what they want

Of those synonymous words in the definition, I think that unaware best implies an ongoing state state of ignorance without the knowledge of being ignorant.

Clueless can be used in a self-deprecating fashion (I'm clueless about something), in which case there is an awareness of a lack of knowledge—but it can also be used to describe someone else who isn't aware of their shortcomings.

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An expression that means the same thing, which you actually used in your question, is out of touch:

[Merriam-Webster]

2 : in a state of not knowing what is happening, how certain people feel, etc.
// I've been away from the business for several years and feel quite out of touch.
—usually + with
// He is out of touch with the younger generation.

Answer 2

IGNORANT can be appropriate in your case.

According to Cambridge Dictionary

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ignorant?q=Ignorant+:

IGNORANT

• not having enough knowledge, understanding, or information about something:

// Many teenagers are

surprisingly ignorant 

about current politics.

Answer 3

You're looking for a word for someone who is acting confused but doesn't know that they're confused? Or are you looking for someone bumbling around for a false reason?

The first implies a kind of dementia and the word "demented" may fit, and the other implies being the victim of gaslighting and the word "deluded" may fit. Both words are internal states and don't imply any external activity, however. I cannot think of one word that matches both, but maybe one of these two will be close?

There may also be an opera or comedy term for that, the condition of stumbling about looking for a solution to a problem while being misled being a common theme.