There's a smell of red-baiting, anti-Russian bigotry, and flimsy, unsubstantiated accusations in the air is more like it.
BTW, this Douglas Brinkley guy is a major-league liberal, and very anti-Republican. Watch his insulting, elitist exchange with Congressman Don Young, an Alaska Republican, here:
Yupp! Brinkley truly belongs on the Democrat Party Propaganda channel, CNN!