If the Russians did interfere in the election they were ineffective.
As evidenced by the caterwauling about the Electoral College and the subsequent calls for impeachment, as well as the insistance that our republic is a democracy, at least half the country is woefully ignorant. Citizens lack basic, elementary understanding of the U.S. Constitution, the difference between democratic republics and democracies, how our system of government operates during elections or how an elected federal office holder is accused, placed on trial and sentenced if found guilty under the impeachment process. If the goal was to undermine confidence in our process, the Russians were laughably overestimating the competence of the voters.
Putin didn’t have to attempt making the Clintons look bad. Over the past decades, the couple has done an incredibly efficient job of making themselves look bad. None of the “revelations” about Hillary or Bill surprised their detractors. Their supporters were immune to the same.
Perhaps, the DNC was exposed as being much worse than previously thought by some. In the estimation of the voting block that supported the president, the DNC has been shooting itself in the foot for years, dealt itself a fatal blow with its platform revision for the 2012 federal election, and nailed its own coffin shut in 2015. At least the members of this group with whom I am personally aware knew they had to choose either an Independent candidate (if a viable one could be found) or default to a Republican - regardless of the individual debate performances or who won the primaries.
