If you’re willing to believe lies, and repeat and obey them, you are signaling your allegiance to the one telling you the lies. For this purpose, something that’s obvious nonsense, or dangerous, works better than something that is sensible but happens to be wrong.

If the Republicans were simply mistaken, and their followers were repeating the lies because they were taken in by something sensible because they trusted it, it would be much less dangerous than what is really happening.