First, very sweet stories about kitties. Enjoyed that.
I dont have an answer but have been wondering a lot about this phenomenon, what with The Big Lie continuing.
This has been well over a decade ago, but research came out about peoples reluctance to record what they ate while dieting. They seemed to prefer denial or obfuscation over an assessment of the facts.
In another situation:
I was puzzled in my work with teaching writing. Why did some students turn in good essays while others turned in poor work or worse yet, nothing at all? So I had them keep a record of the time spent on the assignment. It emerged that that the poor performers spent little or no time on the assignment.
There seems to be an emotional component here, which would require a response that could enable a softer or more gradual acceptance of what some like to call the cold, hard facts.
Now think of Hawley this weekend, claiming that the US liberated slaves. This goes a step farthermaking up an alternative fact.