Former President Donald Trump sat down in late May for an interview with Tim Pool, a right-wing "influencer," where they commiserated about the money America has spent to help Ukraine after that country was invaded by Russia.

Somewhere in Russia, someone must have been thinking at that time that pouring $10 million in the past year into the company that promotes Pool's podcast, "Timcast IRL," and a small band of similarly provocative conservative content creators was a very smart investment.

"Putin respects me. Zelenskyy respects me," Trump told Pool about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "I know all the players, and I want to get that war ended."

I've seen no evidence to suggest that Trump knew in that moment that Russian money was paying to support that podcast. Pool now says he was in the dark about the alleged Russian money backing the company promoting his show.

But, in retrospect, and after a federal indictment Wednesday of two Russian media executives accused of spearheading the secret influencer scheme, this is inescapable – the conservative content allegedly funded by one of America's most dangerous geopolitical foes is completely in tune with Russia's own propaganda.

And why? Because that sort of propaganda attracts attention, which creates profit.

The indictment charges Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, executives from the Russian state-run media arm known as RT, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The DOJ said the scheme arose from an effort to create........

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