Putin's Big Mistake

Putin’s Big Mistake
The View from the Middle

While we are never going to find an e-mail signed by Vladimir Putin authorizing the hacking of the DNC, let’s assume that the Russians did it. Is anyone out there shocked? Is it totally unreasonable to suggest that Putin might even have authorized such a hacking? The answer to both of these questions is, “No”. But the more important questions are, what was the impact of this hacking and what was the intent.
Did the slow-drip release of these e-mails impact the outcome of the election? I would say, no. Hillary was a flawed candidate who had e-mail problems of her own making. She also made some strategically poor decisions trying to win states like Texas and Arizona while ignoring her “assumed” blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
And it’s not like Donald Trump had smooth sailing throughout the general election. First there was the daily onslaught by the mainstream media. Then there was the devastating Billy Bush video and finally there was Hillary’s suggestion that the hacked e-mails were tantamount to an endorsement of Trump by Putin. Many would argue that the people most hurt by the hacking of the DNC were Debbie Wasserman Schultz, John Podesta, Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, in that order.
All of this mud slinging in the final days of the campaign just served to strengthen the resolve of each base, and at best confuse the middle. Let’s face it, everyone (Hillary, Obama, the mainstream media, Putin, and yes even I) expected Hillary Clinton to win the Presidency on November 8th. President Obama even performed a “mic dropping moment” in late October suggesting that Trump would never be President. He obviously thought the election was in the bag. They all believed that the e-mails were not having an impact and were literally planning fire works for election night.
That brings us to the $64,000 question. What was Putin’s intent? Now that the intelligence community has released their final report, it is being suggested that it was not Putin’s intent to change the outcome of the election. Even Vladimir Putin believed that Hillary Clinton was going to be the next President of The United States. His intent, they surmise, was to weaken our next President and our country and thus improve his position in the world. BTW – I suggested this in my 12/17 blog entitled “Of Electors and Putin”.
After a few minutes of celebration in Moscow, Putin must have experienced an “Oops” moment. He had devoted significant resources and took a tremendous risk to collect dirt on our next President, and now Hillary was out. The President of the United States was going to be Donald Trump who favors a strong military, energy independence for the US and improved nuclear capabilities, among other things that are all bad for Russia. Damn!
Could this be why Putin has been so magnanimous in his response to Obama’s sanctions? Let’s just hope that Trump can see Putin for who he is, a ruthless killer and no friend to the US. If he can play Putin like he played Hillary and the US press, this could be a very good thing for America in next four years