[MUSIC]

Ever since the Russians popped up in our elections last summer,

people have been asking:

what is it Putin wants from Trump?

Well, take a look at the last two weeks

and you have your answer.

It's not just that President Trump is nice to the Russians.

It's that we have Captain Chaos in the White House.

He fires the man investigating him,

changes his story several times,

his aides are trying to keep their story straight,

sending all of Washington into a tailspin.

Closed hearings, leaks, memos, special prosecutors

even talk of the "i" word.

What does Putin want?

This.

Here's why.

The largest trauma of Putin's life

was the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Cold War ended and the verdict was decisive:

Soviet Communism doesn't work.

But American liberal democracy does.

America is strong.

Russia is weak.

And so, many Russians wanted to live like Americans.

And many Russians still do.

They're the ones who keep protest Putin,

saying he's corrupt,

he doesn't follow his own laws, that he

he rigs elections,

he controls the media,

and that he's been in power for too long, 17 years,

and nobody else stands a chance.

Basically, what they are saying is

he is bad by Western standards,

and Western standards are good standards.

But in the last year, and especially the last week,

Putin has shown his own people

that maybe the West isn't that great.

It's chaotic, it's unpredictable,

it's unstable.

Maybe the Russian way isn't that bad.

Maybe it's even better than the American way.

In America, every four years, a whole new set of people come into power,

and a lot of them don't know what they're doing.

In Russia, on the other hand,

they've been ruled by pros for nearly two decades.

Slow and steady.

No leaks, no memos,

no special prosecutors,

and certainly no talk of the "i" word.

Where we see strength,

checks and balances, independent institutions, rule of law.

Putin sees weakness.

And that's what he's been wanting to show, not just to us, but to his own people.

You thought America was strong?

Look at it now.