The pro-Putin tilt of Mr. Trump and his advisers was obvious months before the election — I wrote about it in July. By midsummer the close relationship between WikiLeaks and Russian intelligence was also obvious, as was the site’s growing alignment with white nationalists.
Did Republican politicians, so big on flag waving and impugning their rivals’ patriotism, reject this foreign aid to their cause? No, they didn’t. In fact, as far as I can tell, no major Republican figure was even willing to criticize Mr. Trump when he directly asked Russia to hack Mrs. Clinton.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. It has long been obvious — except, apparently, to the news media — that the modern G.O.P. is a radical institution that is ready to violate democratic norms in the pursuit of power. Why should the norm of not accepting foreign assistance be any different?Krugman offers some "now what?" ideas that are crucial, starting with the observation that "the first step is to admit the awful reality of what just happened," especially by the media that played useful idiots to Rump and his Russian partners' subversion of the election. (Good luck with that.)
BONUS: Stormtrumpers ("useful idiots") have fallen in love with Putin, too. The triumph of tribe over country:
