So, we’re finally all in agreement that Russia meddled in our elections. Now, we must come to an agreement about Vladimir Putin’s motivation. William F. Buckley had a rule to boil down complicated electoral calculations: Support the most viable, conservative candidate. Putin has one, too. Support whomever will distract America the most. Call it the Putin Rule.

If we use that lens to view Putin’s actions, then lurking in Robert Mueller’s blockbuster indictment last week is an obvious question. What if Putin supports Nancy Pelosi in 2018?

Of course, this implies that there is an element of truth in President Trump’s neurotic hate-tweeting over the weekend. Democrat partisans are too engrossed with winning the immediate news cycle, so they are unnecessarily focused on proving it wrong. Trump is too focused on the news cycle, too, or he would realize that Putin’s support is no compliment.

Bottom line: Russia’s chief goal is chaos.