Trump Is Putin’s Least-Bad Option
Trump’s presidency hasn’t been as good for the Kremlin as it hoped. But Biden’s liberal internationalism wouldn’t be good news for Russia either.
Hopes were high back then.
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Four years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin was the specter at the U.S. electoral feast. From the Kremlin’s perspective Donald Trump was brash, but he was also seen as a nonconformist, even malleable, candidate it could work with to redefine ties between the two countries. There are no such illusions in 2020. No matter what happens, it’s hard to see the results of November’s poll favoring Moscow.
The hard truth is that the Kremlin hasn’t benefited from a Trump presidency as much as it had hoped — even after it sought to tip the electoral scales in Trump’s favor, as U.S. intelligence showed, with cyberattacks and fake news disseminated over social media. Putin has said Russia is a mere bystander, but it may be meddling even now: On Wednesday, U.S. security officials again said Russia, along with Iran, obtained voter registration data, which can be used to convey misinformation.