In light of today's news, it's worth taking a moment to understand why Russia loves Trump and is rooting for the @GOP. Thread:
@GOP 1/ First, Russia is if not a failed state, certainly a failing state. Consider:
@GOP 2/ Life expectancy is slightly higher than North Korea, slightly lower than Bangladesh. Massive alcohol consumption. These are not markers for optimism.
@GOP 3/ Their GDP of $1.7 trillion / year makes them slightly smaller than Texas ($1.8 trillion). On a per capita basis ($28K) they are worse than any US state. (Mississippi is $31K).
@GOP 4/ Their economy is overwhelmingly dependent on oil, gas and extractive industries. Falling commodity prices have crippled them and they have no real ability to diversify.
@GOP 5/ Now imagine you are an average Russian. Or, for that matter, Putin. You recall a time not that long ago when you were a great power. Now your relevancy hinges almost entirely on belligerence and nuclear weapons. It's tough on the ego.
@GOP 6/ Meanwhile, that other great power from the cold war has had their values expanded through the world. We defended the post WWII order. We led the expansion of NATO, WTO and can take justifiable credit for 70 years of peace in Europe.
@GOP 7/ Russia cannot compete with us economically, cannot match our influence culturally but wants to be relevant again. So what's their goal? Knock us down. Make us less relevant. Convince Americans that our democracy isn't worth fighting for.
@GOP 8/ That is what they did in the 2016 election by sowing distrust among Americans. It's what they've done in France and Britain. They sow distrust in the post WWII institutions to manufacture less coordination, more chaos... because that is the only way they thrive.
@GOP 11/ Note that this is all true regardless of what leaked this week. It is not that complicated to figure out that is in Russia's strategic interest to have the US government led by people who are opposed to global stability and are willing to attack our institutions.
@GOP 12/ When politicians say "the US government is the problem, but I want to work for the US government", that's functionally the same thing as saying "I want to destroy the US from the inside". THAT is why Russia has a desired outcome in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
@GOP 13/ For the US experiment in democracy to survive, we must oppose that influence and must only elect people who take their oath to the Constitution seriously. That's on the good people of the US, regardless of their party affiliation.
