A lot of people who are trying to shrug off Russian interference in democratic elections seem to be missing the fact that democracies are uniquely vulnerable to election hacking.  Given that Putin has no intention of allowing free elections, he is less vulnerable. That doesn't make him clever.  It makes him cynical and corrupt.  Sadly, that seems to be the very thing that Trump admires.

And, if you look even a tiny little bit for a pattern, you will see that the main criteria for earning Putin's support is a disdain for democratic institutions.  He becomes doubly frantic when democratic countries criticize dictators on their abuse of power and urge them to respect the rule of law.  Putin seems to see all such criticism of any country as an attempt to provoke regime change in Russia.  Funny that.