He who must not be named didn’t need to actively collude with Putin to get his help with the presidential election, but he did need to deny that he got help because he thought that he won on his own merits.
He who must not be named and his campaign staff didn’t need to do anything to get Putin’s help throwing the presidential election. All he needed was the details from a Republican-funded private poll, which we know Manafort delivered to Konstantin Kilimnik. Putin already “despised and feared” Hillary Clinton, so there was no need to convince him to throw his weight behind an active measures espionage program against her and against the election. More broadly, Putin worked to try to destabilize the United States along class and racial lines– as if we needed any help along those lines.
*His weird behavior around the question of Russian interference can be traced to his narcissism and his belief that he won the election on his own merits. Any deviation from that win had to be due to millions of illegal aliens voting.
Conrad Theodore Seitz 