American weakness and incompetence are Vladimir Putin’s greatest assets

In the long history of foreign-intelligence operations, has greater disruption ever been achieved for less effort? Russia, a much weaker military and economic power, threw the politics of the world’s most powerful nation into bitter chaos merely by hacking into poorly protected e-mail accounts and boosting “fake news” into social-media feeds. Yet spreading gossipy private communications and misinformation in a super-saturated media environment could hardly cause an electoral crisis. Russia didn’t hack voting machines. It didn’t alter voter rolls. It didn’t disrupt Election Day. It just made Americans lose their minds…

The Obama administration’s weakness and inaction led Putin rightly to believe that he could push America around with impunity. Clinton’s corruption and Democratic incompetence created a soft and inviting target. Trump’s defiance, defensiveness, and deceptions stoked fear and paranoia. At every turn in the story, Russia succeeded because we failed, and true heroes were hard to find.

Now more than ever, we need honesty, firmness, and stable leadership from Washington, and all we’re getting is more political decay. Trump reportedly toys with firing special counsel Robert Mueller, Democrats dream of impeachment, and Twitter is awash in conspiracy theories. If Putin wanted to sow chaos, he got his wish. But he isn’t a diabolical genius, and his intelligence operatives aren’t supermen. American incompetence is his greatest asset.