Mass stupidity, a condition brought about by a deluge of third partyists who hate both Republicans and Democrats ("the two party cartel") because their usual candidates are one issue candidates (like their one-issue supporters), who are unelectable in a huge, general election lie the presidency, where expertize on numerous issues is important. They believe voting for your enemy is a good way of getting mainstream voters to turn to the unelectable third party candidate, thus making him magically viable.
Their usual method of attack is the ad hominem argument, in which a few people spam any post, regardless of topic, with with a textbyte dissing the conservatives most viable candidate until, after enough time, argument, flame wars and blood pressure spikes, mainstream voters stop arguing with the third partyists.
Thus, the third partyiests claim their argument (synonymous with "issue) is right and all others are wrong. They also have the added bonus of giving the appearance of a majority opinion which does not, in fact, exist and do manage to win some hearts and minds from the "me too" crowd.
The end result will destroy this country, but most of the people doing it lean toward anarchy, so why should they care?
I truly doubt they are swaying or fooling anyone, except perhaps the mirror.