Hmmmmm

 I tend to eschew conspiracy theories, but when the FBI's top counter-intelligence officer turns out to be on the Russian payroll and the FBI "didn't find any evidence that Russia helped elect Trump" I actually get a wee bit suspicious.

Is there a worse regime in the world than Putin's Russia? The Myanmar junta has an argument, as they seem to be engaged in outright genocide at the moment. However, there is no regime in the world as outright problematic for the US than Russia. China is a bigger rival, but that rivalry lacks the antagonism that Russo-American relations have. China and the US do agree on certain elements of global stability. Russia is a globally destabilizing force. Fundamentally, Russia is more dangerous, because Russia is weaker.

Are there Chinese spies in the US? Of course. And there are American spies in Russia and China. But Russia evinces a desire to destabilize America that China does not. China wants an informational advantage, like the US does, so they can better plan for the future. Russia has to sow division and conflict, because they cannot compete economically, culturally or - as we see in Ukraine - militarily with the West.

It's also worth noting that Americans arguing in favor of Russia or simply engaging in fatuous whataboutism  - people like Tucker Carlson, Matt Taibbi or Tulsi Gabbard - should not be sitting at the table when making American policy or influencing American policy makers. At some point, Fox News needs to be seen as a foreign agent.

Also, it's worth noting that if Putin were to die tomorrow, things would not get measurably better and could, in fact, get worse.