My best friend sounds the same. She's insanely smart and also and amazing friend who has always been there for me even in some really fucked up circumstances. We've been close for 25 years. I started to distance myself from her since things have gotten crazy because I didn't want to argue over politics, (we've never agreed and had quite a few debates over the years).

She seems to take a little bit if a middle ground stance of knowing something is off but I honestly just think she's a victim of her own ego and also she cares deeply about "fitting in" and she herself has teased me about being a "conspiracy theorist" many times so accepting this government collusion is like labeling herself in a way.

I decided I didn't want to lose her friendship and while we do talk about current events a little, for the most part I just try to avoid these topics. I think something very real will have to happen like vax injury or something to change her, it's out of my hands. I do, however, have some amazingly based friends who I talk in detail about all this shit so it fills the void.