I can't agree with that conclusion. There are plenty of brilliant idiots and idiotic geniuses in the world and it can often be more difficult to change the mind of a "smart" person who has drawn the wrong conclusions than a simple person who has done the same. Individuals who draw their sense of self-worth from their perceived intelligence a more likely to stand their ground, argue semantics, and log every cheap rhetorical grenade they can until they are blue in the face.
For evidence of the irrationality of intelligent people, I proffer the example of every pointless university faculty departmental meeting, ever.
The reason climate change is such a difficult political problem to handle is that it requires significant upfront cost but the resulting benefits are difficult to forecast and measure. As a society, we've encountered this time and time again over the past century.
Think back to the whole 'acid rain' theme some of us lived through growing up. The phenomenon was discovered in 1972, but it took over 20 years before legislation with teeth was actually implemented, and 30 years before significant reductions were measured. And this was on a phenomenon with relatively few point sources responsible for a large portion of emissions, something fairly easy to regulate.
There's no questioning the science behind climate change, IMHO, but the lack of definitive, practical action is due far more to an inherently myopic political process. Politicians have very limited incentive to look at any project with benefits beyond the date of their next re-election.
You can blame it on Trump and his supporters, if it makes you feel better, but I'm hard-pressed to identify a democratic government which actually implemented policies which result in any significant real, measurable impacts on climate change. Democratic leaders are rewarded for appearing to take action, far more than would be if they actually did something.
You're making this about republicans vs democrats. No idea why. My whole point is that politicians on both sides of the aisle are terrible and one of the reasons we have terrible politicians is because the general populace doesn't vote for them for the right reasons. Ad campaigns shouldn't be as effective as the are. Corruption is easily seen, it should be punished by the voters. The vast majority of the voting public is willfully ignorant.
For evidence of the irrationality of intelligent people, I proffer the example of every pointless university faculty departmental meeting, ever.