It's not about Trump. The FBI was pretty sure that the Russians hacked both the DNC and RNC servers in the leadup to the 2016 election, but strangely, we only got to see the DNC's dirty laundry.
It seems likely that the entire GOP is a captive asset of Putin. If not, it's hard to imagine what they would do differently.
If this is how we are finally defeated as a world power, it's hard to say anything but "Well played, I guess."
I personally dont think Trump works for FSB/KGB (he is just naturally attracted to russias authoritarianism) but I guess if you had kompromat on someone back then and pressured them to commit treason then it does not matter what they did back then in the first place because the action of betreaying your country would in itself be kompromat: Keep on cooperating or we will everyone you committed treason.
I bet that is how they get many people hooked. Commit one treason for money and after that you own them because you know they committed treason.
You don’t need kompromat if you are the FSB. The carrot is your family gets to join the oligarch club, which has always been a fascination for Trump ever since he managed to piss away most of the fortune he inherited.
The stick is that we will kill your children and everyone you care about if you turn your back on us. You too, if it’s not hard, but we don’t even care at that point.
The FSB shares that kind of reach with the USA and Isreal only on the global stage, and they have made it into a principal resource for projecting influence.
It seems likely that the entire GOP is a captive asset of Putin. If not, it's hard to imagine what they would do differently.
If this is how we are finally defeated as a world power, it's hard to say anything but "Well played, I guess."