I think the majority are just delusional. Or at least they start out that way.
Why do I say that? I'm basing it on how I felt as an elder. I really believed it was The Troof. I'm actually a pretty bright guy. Pretty successful in life despite being hampered by following the JW rules against education, etc. I knew there were "problems" with some of the doctrine/dogma, but I really, really thought the basic things were solid. Of course, I'm more from the Franz/Knorr generation of JWism. Freddy Franz was a wizard. He was magic. Without any doubt, he was a very gifted man. But not a savvy businessman that Knorr was. Freddy dreamed it all up and Knorr sold it.
The shit they peddle today is........well........shit. How can ANYONE (with any reasonable sense) buy into the overlapping generation BS?It should be obvious to everyone that it's just a "Band-Aid" to try to stop the hemorrhaging that was happening when many began to figure out that the old doctrines had "expired". They had to replace the "1914 generation" with something. Sadly, the overlap was evidently the best thing these bumbling idiots could conceive.
Still there MUST be some "at the top" who know all the dirty secrets, ie, the twisted quotes and false information put into publications like the Creator Book and the Trinity Brochure. When you have to twist and lie to peddle your shit, then you know it's a lie. Perhaps those are just so deep in the Borg that they cannot do anything else? Perhaps they fear it all falling apart and where would they be? Old. Broke. Uneducated. And, without any marketable skills. So they just keep pushing the BS that they know is BS because their future depends on it.
I believe the delusional ones are just praying that Joe Hoover bails them out real soon. They pray every day and night that Armageddon come tomorrow just to prove them right.