Opinion: Here’s Why Putin Loved the Biden/Trump Debate

If Vladimir Putin got up early to watch the U.S. presidential debate, he might have called for a bottle of champagne to go with his breakfast.

It is impossible to imagine that Putin would not have loved what he saw and heard. His candidate, Donald Trump—a man whose election in November would guarantee Putin’s victory in Ukraine and open the door to his conquest of Europe and the downfall of democracy in America—appeared to move closer to victory in November. Meanwhile, Trump’s opponent, the only man who stands between Putin and Trump and their desired goals, seemed to struggle.

Admittedly, one of the reasons President Joe Biden seemed muted, especially at first, was that he had a cold. Another was that Trump produced such a tsunami of lies, that Biden hardly knew where to fact check or call him out first. It was a tactic straight out of the playbook of one of Putin’s favorite generals, soon-to-be-jailbird, Mr. “Flood the Zone with Shit,” Steve Bannon.

Read more at The Daily Beast.