Natasha Bertrand: Russia Is Having Buyer’s Remorse over Trump; They Regret Helping Him Win

EXCERPT:

BERTRAND: "Well I think you hear a lot of talk about Russia having buyer’s remorse, about how they kind of regret helping to elect Donald Trump because they -- Donald Trump really has not been the kind of partner that they could have wanted or hoped for. But you also have to remember that Donald Trump has not chosen to implement sanctions, he’s not exactly been a hypercritical, you know, leader on the world stage of -- of Russia. So, in that sense, you know, you kind of -- Russia kind of locked out, but if you take, for example, the Steele dossier at kind of face value or you take that as any kind of guide, there was a lot of internal dissent within the Russian government about whether or not and to what extent the Russians should interfere in the U.S. election and coordinate with Donald Trump. And there were some saying that it was too ambitious, they were just -- they were going to get caught, it was just not a good idea. And apparently Putin, you know, was very, very set on -- on -- on this project. And you know, but I -- I think to say now that there is kind of -- that there is this buyer’s remorse among the Kremlin and in the Russian government broadly for helping to elect Donald Trump kind of ignores the entire context of what they got in -- in return, which is no more sanctions, and a president — a U.S. president that will not criticize Putin on the world stage."