On October 31st the New York Times reported that FBI officials said investigators,

have become increasingly confident, based on the evidence they have uncovered, that Russia’s direct goal is not to support the election of Mr. Trump, as many Democrats have asserted, but rather to disrupt the integrity of the political system and undermine America’s standing in the world more broadly.

Notice that the FBI investigators assume that the two alternatives are mutually exclusive: the Russians are either trying to help Trump win or they are trying to “disrupt the integrity of the political system and undermine America’s standing in the world more broadly.”  The FBI investigators do not consider the possibility that the Russians are trying to elect Trump in order to “disrupt the integrity of the political system and undermine America’s standing in the world.”

Trump is a reality TV actor who has no experience in government.  He has been caught on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women.  The past two republican presidents did not support his candidacy.  The fact that helping Trump get elected would undermine America’s standing in the world is obvious to most people in the US, except those who are Trump supporters.  The fact that investigators failed to consider this as an option in their investigation of the Russians is evidence of the culture of Trumplandia in the FBI.   It is also a national security issue.  The Russians achieved both the goals the FBI was considering for them; because the FBI wrongly assumed the goals were mutually exclusive, they undermined their ability to protect us from either of them.  This false dilemma undermined the FBI’s ability to protect our democracy.  It allowed an authoritarian regime to alter the outcome of a U. S. election.