They are ashamed.
the cracks are happening, and they’re having to realize they were wrong.
it’s a big shift for these brainwashed cult followers, some of whom just wanted to feel “safe” and wanted to believe they were in the right.
they’ll not be loud about being wrong, because it takes a lot more courage than they ever had.
I know a few - (or: knew in the past, rather, as I’ll have nothing to do with them) and when people were raised in this fundamentalist Christian nationalist cult, they are almost childlike in their naivety. They are so used to just parroting whatever a leader says to them… there have even been scientific studies that have found that their brains have been formed improperly, almost as if they have a parasite - so they’re more susceptible to cults and conspiracy theories after having been raised in this fundamentalist mindset.
it explains a lot of the cognitive dissonance, and the doubling down to insist that things aren’t true; these are people who can believe the world is actually flat, and was made in 7 days. 😬
so if they do realize how deeply bad their leaders are, they won’t be saying anything. Some of them are in churches and communities who still believe what Fox News tells them, so it would be hard to break away.
there’s someone named Monte Mader who is a former fundamentalist who talks about this. She’s really smart and outspoken… she managed to realize how wrong her cult was and get away, and now she is a very strong voice for justice.