[Alberta's Child]

It sounds more like the author has reached the following conclusion without even meaning to:

1. The Russians never meddled in any election.

2. They simply dealt with U.S. political campaigns the same way they've been doing it for years.

3. Hillary Clinton, the Democrats, a bunch of establishment Republicans, and their media flacks fabricated a story out of thin air about "Russian interference in the election."

4. The U.S. government is paralyzed by a story that is completely false, and was a construct of a bunch of @ssholes in Washington.

5. Therefore (somehow), the Russians successfully undermined the public trust in the U.S. election system.

WTF? Is this guy really blaming the Russians for all of the stupidity we've seen in Washington over the last seven months? LMAO.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

5. Therefore (somehow), the Russians successfully undermined the public trust in the U.S. election system.

I think the author is claiming something beyond losing faith in elections:

Mr. Putin achieved one of his goals: throwing the American government into greater turmoil

In fact, many of us have lost confidence in our intelligence agencies, but I believe that is mostly their own fault.