How do otherwises intelligent people get sucked into cults?

Intelligence does not always fill one's needs. Sometimes people need validation from others or agencies to feel validated.

you mean like the republican party?

LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what total fools......

Childhood indoctrination, or life events that lead to them craving companionship which makes them susceptible to indoctrination later in life.

They are lost and alone, looking for direction and purpose.

An emotional need to believe that there is something beyond themselves and that it's more to life than what is actually there. Also, they cannot rest with the fact there are somethings they will never know so the pick something they think will answer those questions.

Intelligence and emotional health are two different things.  Look at all the people who voted for Trump.

It's people searching for God without knowing how to find him who get caught up in cults.

Many of the carry the VMAT2 gene, so they are especially vulnerable. 

Fear and insecurity.

A cult gives them something to belong to.  A church differs very little from a street gang.  Nice to you, to get you in, then the other shoe drops....they own you then.

People can be book smart but socially awkward, have few or no friends. Cults seek out these people because by pretending to befriend them, make them part of a group, they are able to convince them of anything

Hello pretty flower. The promise of love.

Jim Jones said it best - you convince them to love their mythical god more than they love their own family. He was a MASTER at getting people to do that in his cult.

The other "master" at doing that is the christian cult.