Ive just finished reading the 37 page indictment, and have come to the conclusion Russia wasnt so much trying to get Trump into office (as this campaign started in 2014) but rather to create division and discord within America and it's voters. I would have to say they did that IN SPADES. As the old saying goes, a house divided against itself cannot stand. This is evidenced by the fact there were plants and rallies for BOTH sides of the aisle, and showing faux support for many candidates.
It angers me that this has caused such division in our country. Hate speech on both sides has never been as divisive as it has been in the last year. We've spent so much time focusing on "the other side" we've forgotten we're ALL Americans. Im reminded of our country's unity after 9/11. We cared not whether our neighbor was Republican or Democrat, but rather supported them as an American. I wish it didnt take a tragedy like that to bring unity to us all.
I have to say the evidence in the indictments strongly suggests they were trying to elect Trump. Or, more precisely, trying to damage or defeat Clinton. There is a reason why they spent nearly all of their resources on hurting her or trying to help one of her opponents, be it Jill Stein, Bernie, or Trump. There’s no other logical conclusion. They were clearly also trying to sow discord, but those two aims aren’t really incompatible as they wanted as close and as divisive an election as possible and Clinton was the large favorite.
As for the divisions in our country Russia may have made them worse but the people primarily to blame are ourselves (and the internet). People are more than happy to lock themselves into ideological echo chambers that teach them to hate the ‘other side’ without any prodding. One important thing to note though is that this echo chamber hate is not symmetric as it’s far more prevalent on the conservative side. This isn’t intended to be partisan, it’s intended to be factual. (Tons of data indicates this)
If we can’t even admit our views of the world have been warped by information bubbles I don’t see how we solve anything else.