In her efforts to rationalize her 2016 loss, Hillary Clinton has gone full cuckoo. Vladimir Putin not only robbed her, he’s positioning his “assets” to do it again.

Doing a podcast with David Plouffe, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, she insisted that Putin is “grooming” a Democrat for a third-party run next year.

“I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She’s the favorite of the Russians,” Clinton raved.

She plainly meant Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, as Plouffe said. Never mind that Gabbard ruled out any third-party bid on CNN in August — or that she’s a veteran who put her life on the line for this country.

This follows last week’s New York Times story hinting at the same conspiracy theory, which cited at least two former Clinton aides and which Gabbard slammed onstage at last week’s debate.

The former secretary of state (who once proudly offered Putin a giant “reset” button) also tarred 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein as yet another Russian tool, who might elbow out Gabbard.

“That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which, she might not ’cause she’s also a Russian asset.” Clinton said. “She’s a Russian asset, totally. They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate.”

The thought that Americans wouldn’t dare run a third-party candidate on their own — as they’ve done for decades — because it might re-elect President Trump is nowhere on Clinton’s radar screen.

In short, she’s doubling down on the actual reason why she lost: her palpable contempt for most Americans.