alexander vindman was present in a few, but reviewed most of the putin interactions during trump 1.0 at the highest level of security clearance.

when things were turning negative for putin, or he simply needed to change the topic, putin often used brazenly simple tactics with trump.

a. for any failure in american-russian relations, putin would blame obama. it was irrelevant whether these events actually occurred or could have realistically involved obama. the mere mention would immediately distract trump into a lobster-faced rage.

b. vindman now speculated that under trump 2.0, biden may be invoked if slightly more realism required. am guessing hillary may be thrown in for flavor.

what went beyond putin's wildest dreams is this was often the only part of the meeting trump would remember and propagate to the american public.