I'm not in any way a supporter of "party" liberalism and would never vote for most mainstream Democratic candidates. And, the world is changing and anointed med

I'm not in any way a supporter of "party" liberalism and would never vote for most mainstream Democratic candidates. And, the world is changing and anointed media outlets providing official agenda and biased spin as truth is apparently over as far as being effective. (Now that's out of the way): My father in law is a big conservative "fake news" fan. He also watches championship wrestling. I'm not on facebook and don't visit sites of the alt-right persuasion (or really any political persuasion) and so hadn't been exposed to what was happening. And I didn't think anyone really believed far fetched claims. Until we went up for a visit a year or so back and he proceeded to sit with his laptop at dinner proclaiming "Obama is going to jail! it's been proved. He is using someone else's social security number and it's this guy XXX!'. Oh and there was a lot more too! Things I would have believed a rational person of any political persuasion would have questioned. Quite an eye opening experience. Now, my father in law is not going to be acing medical entrance exams any time soon but he isn't stupid. So I wondered about this phenomenon for a long time. And here's what I concluded. People will willingly suspend rational belief if the payload is something they want to believe or confirms the world of wishes they have built. Smart people, dumb people, all kinds of people. I don't think there is any possible way someone of even a modicum of intelligence could believe championship wrestling is anything but a falsified show for instance. But he watches it. And he pretends it's real. Because he wants to. So for all the "smart people" thinking "Oh, I knew it! Only dumb people believe in fake news! And that's how Trump got elected!", different manifestation, same phenomenon. Trying to overcome this tendency is a step towards predictive power but whatever makes a person happy I suppose.