Trump's World

[H2O Man]

16. In his book on

the topic, Malcolm Nance stressed that Russian intelligence acted in a manner that in no manner covered their tracks. They were not concerned about their role being identified. That is of huge significance.

Corn and Isikoff made clear in their book that Putin viewed Trump as an inferior in virtually every way. The Russians delighted in manipulating Trump's greed for wealth and power. Again, hugely significant.

The proposed Trump tower in Moscow was an avenue for laundering money for the Russians. Then, Trump's candidacy provided an avenue to damage Clinton. More, it was hoped that, by the off chance Trump could "sin" the election, the sanctions would be lifted. That, of course, was required for the proposed project, which was a small price for them to pay for having the sanctions lifted.

While Trump has become useless to Putin in the context of sanctions, he remains of value for exactly the reasons you noted: he is damaging to the United States, and thus to NATO as well. And you are correct -- it will take a huge effort to repair the damage that Trump has done.