For four years, Vladimir Putin’s meddling in Our Democracy™ has been the all-consuming political obsession of the entire Washington/New York media behemoth. This obsession was based on a few core truths that were accepted as dogmas: That the Russian leader endlessly lies, that his plots are all-encompassing in their complexity, that he hides in the bushes before jumping out to scare young children.

At least, that was the dogma.