Standing-At-The-Back-Dressed-Stupidly-And-Looking-Stupid Party
(Courtesy of Blackadder III, Dish and Dishonesty)
It doesn’t really matter if the leadership actually, well, and truly believes something, it matters if the followers do, and I’m pretty well convinced they do.
Also, and this is something I’ve seen a lot online, some people really are dumb and some people really do believe bizarre things. It’s common to see people who claim, for whatever deep psychological reason, that nobody who has a weird idea actually holds the idea. They’re all trolling us, or their followers, or engaging in performance art, or something. They’re fake. The commentators can tell by the pixels. This might be plausible in some cases, but it isn’t a good default position: Fakers will, eventually, blink. They’ll give up if the stakes get too high. A true believer (or a true moron) won’t flinch, even in the face of Armageddon. And Armageddon tired of their antics.