The lockstep groupthink of Teapublicans reminds me of fanatical Marxists, who believe they are inerrant. Facts and reality are not allowed to intrude. National Journal deftly fillets them. The belief system must be defended at all costs. Attacks generally make them even more rigid.
Those who thought shutting down the government was a winning strategy should have their heads examined.
I consulted a psychiatrist and a psychologist on this question. Both said there is no formal term for the behavior some Republicans are exhibiting, but one described the groupthink as “hysterical delusional affirmation,” and the other named it “delusional synergy.” One said, “It entails suspension of logical intellectual processes with a selective consideration of only confirmatory input. Paranoid people typically experience ideas of influence and control where they believe that they see things that others cannot. This process is often propelled by delusions of grandeur, quite often messianic in nature.”