Normally with these articles you can just fill in the blanks. You put “Trump and Putin are gay for each other” in the lede, throw a “sow division” in the body somewhere, then it’s plot-complications-unity-derp before dismounting to, “In sum, honest Republicans face a hard choice.” For examples of the genre, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, etc. Just as they have Nathan’s hot dog eating contests, media will someday have timed “Write Russiagate copy” competitions, maybe not on Coney Island but Park Slope or the Vineyard.

It’s usually not necessary to read the middles of these stories, but this one is interesting. [WaPo analyst Andrew] Kluth is spun up at new sanctions announced by Russia’s Foreign Ministry. These were in response to 300 new sanctions just issued by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), dovetailing with 200 new “individuals, entities, vessels, and aircraft.” The latter is sobering and includes a Minister in Tatarstan overseeing “child re-education camps.” One wouldn’t presume to joke about it, or any of the economic and human rights sanctions imposed during the war.

This new Russian government response, however, looks like a media prank, designed to suck in the likes of Kluth.

[I’m not even sure the Russians were taking it that seriously. The sanctions list had a number of Republicans on it as well, including J.D. Vance and others from the Trump-friendly populist Right. It looked more like Moscow was baiting the US media just for the buzz factor, but Taibbi’s argument is pretty solid, too. And it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the people in charge of US media outlets fell into this Putin honey trap again. — Ed]