Putin not only has strong motives for wanting to Trump to win over Clinton, but also has some means to try to influence our presidential vote.

Kremlin-controlled media outlets have stated publicly their preference for Trump. RT, Russia's state-controlled television station broadcasting in the United States, has a clear preference for Trump. In one of many pro-Trump reports, the Russian state-controlled news service, Sputnik, said it confirmedTrump's claim about Obama being the "founder" of the Islamic State and tweeted the hashtag: #CrookedHillary. With vigor and volume, pro-Kremlin bloggers echoed these same messages on Twitter and Facebook. Putin himself has weighed in, praising Trump as a "colorful" ("yarkii") and talented politician (though not as a genius, as Trump has claimed), who seems more amenable to work with Russia than other candidates.

More audaciously, Russians apparently stole emails from the Democratic National Committee, after which Trump then encouraged Russian spies to steal again and publish more of Clinton's emails. No one should be surprised that the Russian government uses its incredible cyber capabilities to collect intelligence on important U.S. politicians. That is what spies are supposed to do. What they have never done in the past, however, is publish stolen information to influence a U.S. presidential election.