Being a good Republican in this day and age means that you like who Donald Trump likes and his enemies are your enemies. U.S. intelligence is bad, Vladimir Putin is good. McClatchy found that attitude fully on display at the weekend’s North Carolina Republican Convention:

“There’s nothing about Jim Comey that I trust,” said state Sen. Ron Rabin. “There’s nothing consistent about what he says.”

Asked whether Comey has any credibility, he offered a view shared by many Republican activists gathered at this airy waterfront convention center: “None. Zero.”

Comey may have handed Trump the election, but he wasn’t a loyal foot soldier, so screw that guy. Putin’s Russia, on the other hand ...

“Putin suggested Russia’s being made a scapegoat for hacking,” [secretary of the Union County GOP] said. “That’s what I think too.” [...]

Others didn’t go that far, but a number of people questioned whether Russia had really sought to interfere with the U.S. election.

“We need to do everything we can to become allies with Russia,” said T.J. Johnson, the vice president of the North Carolina Federation of Republican Men. “As for election meddling, I don’t think they really had anything to do with it.”

Loyalty to Dear Leader is all that matters here. 

The good news is, Trump's base is shrinking. The bad news—the very, very bad news—is, these people still control the Republican Party, and the Republican Party still controls most of American government, and they’ve shown they’re willing to do just about anything to keep that control.