Article Quotes: "You could probably guess the answer, too. It’s that a healthy share of Americans remain convinced that Russia tinkered with our election when it was the CIA."
"The Russia conspiracy theory has the additional benefit of triggering the same “out-group” heuristic triggered by Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusade of the 1950s. By casting Trump and MAGA Republicans as aligned with a hostile foreign power, it is easier to justify unethical and illegal behaviors to persecute them."
It's that simple.