-we will begin to justify the wisdom of our choice and find reasons to dismiss the alternative.

Pissing off the opposition is a reason, as you just stated. They're idiots who deserve to be pissed off, so we will.

I’m guessing it will be pretty difficult to tell if they are having “brain fog” or it is just typical Republican brain shut down.

I totally disagree. Festinger is one of the most well grounded social scientists EVER. I have read much of his academic work and did significant study in social psychology and group dynamics. The intellectual and factual proof behind the uidea of cognitive dissonance is there in depth. Please try to do your homework before disagreeing to greatly with quality factual and scientific work.