After the Russians were handed the implausible gift of a lifetime with Trump’s nomination, there should be no question as to whether or not they were going to exploit the opportunity. In view of the effort and expense required to grease the chute to Trump’s installation, the Russians would be damned fools to pass up the chance. In fact, they would be the laughing stock and butt of jokes in intelligence agencies world wide had they ignored the “windfall” The question should never have been whether or not the Russians meddled in the election, because It amounts to asking “are the Russians stupid enough to pass up a chance at severely crippling the United States at virtually no expense to themselves?” THAT question pretty much answers itself, because the Russians would have to be REALLY stupid not to interfere. So the only question worthy of consideration is the extent of collusion with the Russians on the part of Trump and his followers in planting his oily ass in the oval office.
It doesn’t matter what your politics are on this. In view of subsequent events, I defy anyone here to counter the fact that whatever exertions the Russians put toward Trump’s Presidency, when it comes to screwing up this country, they have achieved a phenomenal return on their investment!
But here’s the deal. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Russian pimpin, the malodorous and expanding conflict of interest cesspool, the blatant breeches of intelligence protocols, etc. Sooner than they probably suppose, the Republicans are going to be forced to seize on one of the ample (and legitimate) excuses required in answering the question in everyone’s head “how the fk do we get out of this?”