Could we be seeing a pandemic of a cognitive/mental virus or infohazard?

So I've seen a number of posts here about how one's once rational parent has gone full MAGA seemingly overnight. I'm honestly wondering if what we are seeing is some kind of cognitive/mental virus or infohazard which predominantly effects older people more due to the neural equivalent of a weakened immune system. Just writing this seems somewhat insane, but it also kinda makes sense. Theres lesser more innocuous examples of viral ideas, so what if the whole MAGA phenomenon is the human equivalent of a malevolent computer virus? It only effects systems with poor safeguards (idiots and those with brain damage like early dementia), and it spreads from one system to another like a virus. The concept of a mental virus has been speculated on mostly in fiction, but I honestly think we may be seeing a real-world example.