Ceeboo wrote:.. it is my view that there are indeed a number of possibilities. Among these many possibilities (and at the top of my personal list) is Trump's enormous ego. The mere suggestion that his 2016 victory may be - or may be seen - as somehow ill-won is an extremely strong driving force for someone that possesses the vanity and narcissism that he exhibits. In my mind, it's the same with firing Comey. Simply put, this isn't about some nefarious plot, it's about Trump's ridiculous ego problem.
Ceeboo wrote:What's your answer?
The ego is certainly part of the answer. I'd say that Putin was well aware that (for the reason you give) Trump was extremely likely to use his power and influence to the maximum to stop or geld any serious investigation of the Russian role in the 2016 election. They were thus quite safe to pursue by all possible means what they considered to be the more damaging option to American interests in particular, and to wider western interests in general - the election of an ignorant and wilful man as US president. And they found people in Trump's circle willing to help - not because they loved Mother Russia, but because a Trump victory was hugely in the personal and economic interests of his close supporters.
How much Trump knew about this, and if so at what stage, I don't currently feel able to say. But his record of shameless and open lying is such that any denial by him carries no weight at all: like all habitual liars, he is probably capable of convincing himself that he knew nothing, even if he really did, and that Russia did nothing to help him win the election, even if he knows that they really did.