Absolutely. Once the brain becomes open to a certain way of thinking, it will be more accepting of similar ideas later. People who earnestly believe one piece of disinformation, for example, are more susceptible to believing other, more radical pieces of disinformation when presented with them. Add that on top of being primed to take orders and information without questioning it, and it's a nasty cycle. It's how people get radicalized into more and more niche beliefs online (regardless of political stance), and why it's so difficult to bring them back to earth.
When such people leave their echo chambers and are faced with criticism, then, they get a lot more defensive than your average bloke would. They start to truly believe that everyone who disagrees with them is either unenlightened or actively hostile.
I was reading a paper on this recently and tbh, maybe I read this thread too much, but I immediately thought "hey, I know a social contagion that sounds like that!"