There's one subtle aspect that we tend to lose sight of. Suppose you have an election where a regular candidate or party goes up against a troll-propped devil i

There's one subtle aspect that we tend to lose sight of. Suppose you have an election where a regular candidate or party goes up against a troll-propped devil incarnate. The latter should have no business advancing or succeeding in politics, yet here we are. By many measures, Putin has already won at that point. If the establishment fires off the artillery, democracy itself catches flak. Almost paradoxically, democracy's defenders are forced into measured complicity and silent legitimization. It's just a flesh wound and there's not much to see here.