The Kremlin’s candidate? Surely you’re joking, Mr. Crowley

Why would a TV channel owned and financed by an unfriendly country support a US presidential candidate? In the case of RT, I can think of five reasons:

  1. The Kremlin thinks RT’s support can help Trump win. That’s naive or delusional or both, but still possible.
  2. Putin is trolling Americans for the fun of it.
  3. Putin’s team wants more instability and conflict in the US, including violent clashes between anti-Trumpists and Trumpists. Recall the gloating with which RT covered Ferguson.
  4. The Kremlin actually prefers Clinton so pretends to support Trump to sink him. Perhaps the Kremlin thinks it can blackmail HRC with stolen files or something.
  5. RT bosses think, for whatever reason, that pro-Trump coverage pleases Putin, but are getting no feedback from him.

What’s the net takeaway from all this? I like (3) and (5) the most at the moment, but cannot rule any of the others.

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