Political affiliation doesn't have to be the factor there at all. He can also think you're wrong about those topics - in the counter positions to his views - an

Political affiliation doesn't have to be the factor there at all. He can also think you're wrong about those topics - in the counter positions to his views - and he can believe his argument is strong and well supported, superior to the arguments on the other side. I've met a lot of very smart people in my lifetime that are wrong about all sorts of prominent topics, despite being well-read on the topics in question. Pick nearly any subject and you can bet there are smart people on both sides that will disagree, and some of them will bring very potent arguments to the table even when they're wrong.