These are people who've been generationally primed to trust the media that has been screaming to them for the past ten years the world is fucking ending because a reality t.v. star decided to run for president and hasn't died yet.
No it's pretty novel and only possible with multiple advancements in technology the prime culprit being mass media/mass psychology. Most of these people were normal before being "activated" by the media environment they've been stuck in for the past eight years, two of which some were effectively locked in house arrest.