"The Republican Brain: Why Even Educated Conservatives Deny Science — and Reality"

[Shagman]

3. missing the point

What these "smart idiots" believe aren't random delusions. There are groups, like Faux News, who craft and deliver this disinformation, i.e., propaganda. It's designed to reinforce the subject's prejudices, including religious beliefs; to encourage irrational thinking; and to produce specific results. The messages are repeated so often that the subjects never really have a chance to consider their validity, even if they wanted to.

In effect, these people are brainwashed. Maybe Mooney goes into that later on in the book.