Indeed. But stupidity is not all there is to this fraud. In fact, I have no trouble imagining that absolutely everyone in this had an admirable IQ.
First, how are you going to argue that credentialed scientists writing in peer reviewed journals are stupid?
Second, the fraud is self-serving. That peer pressure is not like kids egging one of their own to jump into the water. Scientists lose careers -- not merely jobs but whole careers when they lose the support of their peers. The whole academic system works on peer review. Science is also overwhelmingly financed by government grants, likewise dependent on peer review.
Thirdly, there are billions out of the taxpayer pockets hinging on this, because it is not just grants to advance knowledge, this is industrial policy. These theories do real damage. If, for the sake on an argument, someone put fools in charge of the climate science and then linked climate science to industrial policy, then that is criminal too.
It reminds me of a story overheard on the radio. A gangster shoots the pilot of a private plane dead cold near Miami airport as the plane was still in the air. He is brought in for murder. His defense is imaginative: "I just bought me a new gun and wanted to go shoot at planes to see if it works. I am not a very smart man, your honor."
To quote Pastor Brian Richardson:
"Sin makes people stupid."
Perhaps foolish may have been a better word.
Corrupt hearts shun truth, and shunning truth makes for stupid action. And even Forest Gump knows that: "Stupid is as stupid does".