Russians thought it would hurt the United States but didn't realize Trump would create a booming economy
He didn’t, this is such a tiresome lie.
Nothing changed when Trump took office. Unemployment, GDP, hell even the stock market, all continued the same upward trajectory we had been seeing for the prior seven years. In fact you could even argue it slowed down under Trump since there were more jobs created in the last 3 years under Obama than there were under Trump.
Please stop repeating this lie, it only makes you look helplessly uninformed at best and a partisan hack at worst.
How are you defining the term "Russian asset"
It means that in Trump Putin was able to see progress towards achieving his top goals that he never could have thought reasonably possible.
Putin is a murderous dictator which means he rules by fear and a sense of hopelessness. The greatest threat to a person like him is a source of inspiration, a place his people could look to and say “that’s what we want”. For about a century now that source has been the United States, so what Putin wanted is to see American democracy crumble. Trump with his bullshit election lies, his flagrant flouting of the law and then weaponizing his own accountability to further destroy confidence in the rule of law… these are things Putin never dreamed would actually see happen in his lifetime.
The second is the weakening of NATO which Trump has unquestionably done. NATO was literally formed as a check against Russian aggression and every president since WW2 has understood his importance to national security… except Trump. Never in Putin’s wildest dreams did he believe NATO would actually topple, but a second Trump presidency would almost guarantee it.
Putin must wake up everyday wondering if he sold his soul to the devil and had the memory of that transaction wiped so he could enjoy the results. Trump is a candidate he never thought possible 15 years ago.