Both parts of your analysis are spot on. Vlad is Vlad. His motivations are set, defined, and focused. The Regressives (”Libs”) have all the focus and clarity of though of a toddler on a sugar high.
For a lib. history/reality/facts etc begin the moment they wake up every day. Today is one thing/set, tomorrow is a blank slate and nothing existed before it. Surely nothing any of them said. Unless it can be bent to advantage. Then ‘that’ history is inviolate. There is no way to deal with that in any way. It’s an ever-moving target.
Vlad’s KGB sympathies/approaches are a known thing with established methods to deal. And while the Soviets erased some history of their own, we know why. With libs, ‘why’ is jello. I’ll gladly take 1000 of VP over one Zero. As President of the US.