NEITHER OF THEM UNDERSTOOD AMERICA:

[R]ussia's election meddling has boxed Trump in to this aggressive stance for the foreseeable future. Trump's best defense against charges of collusion with Russia is: Look at my policies. There has been no president this tough on Moscow since Ronald Reagan. Even if Trump wanted to pursue detente with Russia, he cannot, because any concessions to Putin will be seen through the prism of the Russia investigation. Every step taken that benefits Moscow will cost him politically at home, while tough stances will insulate him from accusations that he is Putin's puppet.

Third, Russia's election meddling has achieved something no Russian leader has previously been able to do: It has turned Democrats into modern-day Cold Warriors. In 2012, after Mitt Romney called Russia our No. 1 geopolitical foe, Democrats cheered Barack Obama for mocking him by saying, "The 1980s are calling to ask for their foreign policy back." Today, five years later, Democrats are suddenly channeling their inner Reagan.

It's ironic. During the Cold War, when the Kremlin was throwing people into the gulag and threatening the United States with nuclear annihilation, many Democrats were all for accommodating Moscow. They opposed the Reagan defense buildup, the Strategic Defense Initiative and aid to anti-Soviet freedom fighters and chafed when Reagan declared the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire."

But the Kremlin finally crossed a line when it messed with Hillary Clinton's campaign. None of this is what Putin was hoping for when he decided to interfere in the 2016 election.

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