You omit one very big important piece of the puzzle. Trump very much is on Putin's side, saying stuff like NATO is obsolete, he undermines the sanctions Obama imposed on Putin that very same day,(unheard of by a president-elect),Trump praises Putin over US sanctions – a move that puts him at odds with GOP. After this story broke and as a president-elect, it would have been prudent do distance himself from Putin, the fact he hasn't done it is very telling in itself.Although I do agree that the main theme was change here, and I am not someone who will say that I'm certain about anything if I can not proof it that the Russians succeeded in influencing the election. Which in the case of the hacks I can't. But you gloss over the main theme of my OP. WHY did Putin do it? In your 3rd point you are, I think trying to tell me that Putin wouldn't have expected this to have diplomatic fallout. The facts, (Obama did issue extra sanctions), As the severity. Trying to hack plans for a military plane is not as serious in the grand scheme as trying to influence the US election and thirdly Russia is already on the Western worlds shitlist. I can also add that it was an enormous risk Putin took. He kept on going to bat for him, after the news broke and all throughout one disastrous news cycle after another for Trump. Nation states don't take risks like that if the reward doesn't completely overshadow it's risk. On a personal note, thank you for not trying to deflect or dodge my post.What the DNC did was unethical and something they payed dearly for. What Putin did was influencing an election to get a specific candidate in office by using ILLEGAL not just unethical methods. A foreign power influenced the election, something that by it's very nature raises a serious national security question. Why would Putin risk the diplomatic backlash that would result from this act. There aren't very many possible answers to that question which are good for the US. So the difference between both acts. One unethical and internal party politics. And the second one, unethical, illegal and globally significant.The democrats apparently won the spin contest for the wikileaks fallout showing that the DNC cheated both Bernie and Trump, and yet Trump gets blamed for "Russian Interference" throwing him the election causing him to be "illegitimate"?!
Debbie Wasserman Schultz was fired for cheating Bernie
Donna Brazille was fired for cheating Trump
Yet Trump is illegitimate because the democrats cheated and got caught???
Lets do a poll, which is worse, cheating or getting caught?
I still don't believe that what Putin did had any effect on the election, both camps were entrenched and my basic premise is that this was simply a "change" election, and Trump was the obvious change candidate. So unless you can prove otherwise, there was no Russian "influence" I'm saying that other factors decided the election, such as:
1. Illegal server, missing emails, FBI should have indicted, pay-to-play, Benghazi, gun control, progressive agenda, and my favorite, if Russia is so bad why did she sell US uranium and pocket $145,000,000?
2. Trump wants: a war on drugs, illegals/wall, end unfair trade, law and order, CHANGE, replace Obamacare, see his agenda, and if Russia really wanted to sink Hillary they would have released the 30,000 classified emails hacked from her bathroom server.
3. As for your "national security question" due to the Russian hacking of the DNC, I'm calling bullshit. China hacked the F-35 plans and 21,000,000 HR records and there was ZERO fallout or sanctions. The DNC should have bought a Norton Security Suite instead of fireworks and there would have been no hacking. The blowup over the Russian hack is bullshit politics, otherwise China would be sanctioned too.
I could list many more factors that decided the 2016 election, but the point being that voters have MANY factors to influence their votes and the DNC hack wasn't as serious as her other failures. I'm still betting that the Trump team will not let this go and eventually the CIA and FBI will reach different conclusions.
Why did Putin do the hack? That's easy, look at the fallout. The dems are whining about Trump being "illegitimate" and the Dems/DNC look like incompetent cheaters. Putin is playing both partisan sides against each other. The inauguration is supposed to be marred by protests and violence, and both parties have been weakened, thereby weakening the US generally. A weak US is always Putin's objective.