Oh, I absolutely agree that Putin et al have been propping up Tramp and his always failing dirty businesses for years, even a few decades. What I meant was that Putin was aiding Tramp’s campaign early on in the primaries. As @geofu54 said, why take a chance on him winning the nom if you already have your influence scheme just waiting to be tested out.
And it wouldn’t surprise me if Putin’s thugs have been planting, fertilizing and tending the seed of the presidency in Tramp’s tiny, addled mind for years, too. They know him better than he knows himself, they know which buttons to push and how best to push them. They saw him seethe at the WHCD when Obama ribbed him and then goaded him into making the run.
He is a cross between The Manchurian Candidate and the “asset” described by Clapper who didn’t know he’d become an asset - complete with devastating kompromat - until it was too late. How easily this man child is played and now we have to deal with the fallout.