WHAT DID THE RUSSIANS DO IN 2016?

It might be easier to list what Russians are NOT accused of. That list should be much shorter than what has been proven, no?

But no. Because there is nothing on that latter list. Certainly nothing of any consequence.

Nothing has been proven. Plenty of people have sworn on what they think, what they assume and what their colleagues and peers think, postulate, agree on as possible, or likely.

But precisely NOTHING has been proven. Nada. Niente. Nix... Zero.

So what DO we know? What in heaven’s name DID the Russians do?

One or two high profile Russians were talked to by people were members of Trump’s team trying to get him elected or became members of his administration. Is it known what they talked about? Mostly yes. Did it relate to assisting Trump in winning the presidency? No. Are these kinds of communications normal with various high profile members of other states? Yes. With those of Israel for instance? Hell yes.

Is that it? Almost.

What else?

It seems that some wealthy Russian or Russians put together a bunch of people in a room and gave them a few thousand dollars with which to place some Facebook ads. Something less that $100k it seems.

Did these ads advocate for Donald Trump or denigrate Hillary Clinton? In almost every case, no. They were the most madcap, un-analyzable assembly of oddball ads you could imagine.

How could they affect the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in that case when the Democrats were spending hundreds of millions on ads to get Hillary Clinton elected then?

Well, judge for yourself.

Here are four of those ads.

 Look at them carefully and imagine yourself back in mid-2016 as a typical American looking at them who is still undecided about who to vote for. See if you feel prompted to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton or Donald J. Trump... or are simply confused and still undecided.

This is basically all that's left of what the Russians did. A few conversations and $90k or so of off-color ads.

It comprises this, that and some very odd other.

Does it seem very likely to you that Russia was the predominantly crucial factor in Trump winning the presidency in 2016?

Or could it just be that a sufficient number of Americans found Hillary Clinton to be a little less than palatable and at the same time felt their country was heading downhill with stagnant wages, crumbling infrastructure, jobs hemorrhaging overseas and trillions being spent on regime change wars that left things worse than before they began... and in desperation voted for a bragging orange-faced loud-mouth who said he could make all their hurt better?

Over to you...

What did the Russians do in 2016?

 Something vital... or completely inconsequential?