Not dumb at all, the drought index is pretty opaque unless you dig into the components. So the overall outlook is based on a number of inputs, including Palmer index, soil moisture, streamflow, and standardized precip index.
The SPI works based on the history of observed rainfall amounts, so that will be dynamic to changing climate conditions (i.e. if dry years become more common the index value will add less to the overall drought classification). Soil moisture is tied to the new climate normals as well (1991-2020). And Palmer index is more or less water in minus water out, so it doesn't really matter whether the climate is changing for that.
They all have their strengths and weaknesses. Like the Palmer operates on a 9 month timescale, so rapidly evolving droughts are late to show up in its index value.