RealExplorer2

Not saying that's a particularly enlightened way to behave, but the suggestion that it's this mysterious character trait which only Putin seems to induce is just... wrong. Trump has developed affectionate personal bonds with everyone from Macron, to Netanyahu, to Xi Jinping

Trump's attitude toward Putin is firmly in line with the traditions of American statecraft, for good or ill. Saying nice things to world leaders while in their presence is simply not abnormal in the least. Trump just adds a "Trumpian flare," and people freak the F out

...especially when Trump has taken action after action directly *contrary* to Putin's interests. (We could go through the list: Ukraine, Syria, etc.) But that, of course, gets ignored, in favor of this superficial amateur psycho-analysis which modern punditry is so dominated by

The notion that "Russian interference" has caused the death of American democracy is the exactly the kind of overblown nonsense which is central to Russiagate. To accept it is it to accept the core premises which underlie the entire overblown narrative

In short, you can't really pick and choose elements of the narrative which seem politically felicitous. At the narrative's very base are inescapable, noxious ideological assumptions. The idea that bringing those assumptions into the mainstream could benefit 'The Left' is fanciful