One: Education doesn't necessarily correlate with intelligence. We all knew that rich airhead who took 6 years and 3 majors to scrape by with a D average to get a degree.
Two: Educated people who are sharp and crave power and influence, can be sly and cynical and exploit the rubes, using conspiracy theories and the like, when it suits them. The current cultural climate suits it perfectly.
It's disingenuous to see education as any bulwark... People are nuts, educated or not...