I think it's both. I do believe the politicians and Republican voters with education fully understand what is going on and are lying about it. I also believe the majority of the conservative movement is ignorant as fuck and honestly believe the lies that they are told. When my father ranted at me about all Muslims wanting to kill or convert us, I don't think he was lying. He was deeply misguided by decades of conservative propaganda (AM radio + over the road truck driver) and honestly believed it. It's gotten so bad that the conservative party is now electing the true believers. You can see it in folks like Sarah Palin, Marjorie Taylor Greene and RFK Jr. The right wing strategy to control their base and ensure they could never be at real risk of impeachment like Nixon has infected their leadership and it's willful ignorance from top to bottom now with grifters spread throughout.