It's empirically the case that most people aren't very intelligent. It's also empirically the case that pandering to the simple-minded yields a dividend of votes. Ergo, in a representative democracy it pays to undermine the very foundations of society in order to achieve a short-term benefit (re-election). As the mass media also thrives on mindless sensationalism, the two factors powerfully reinforce each other. We thus get the mindless sniveling creature Trump as President and babbling psychopaths like MTG in the Congress. Science can't survive in such an environment. We are not far from the day when people will once again be accused of witchcraft, and we can be sure Congressional hearings will be held into all manner of occult practices. The USA is finished; all that remains is the grotesque spectacle of its final collapse into howling shrieking barbarism.