By Jason Taylor 

President Obama’s sanctions are a gift to Trump; freeing him to pursue an alternative policy toward Russia. The gift is, of course, a bit of a two-edged sword as undoing those sanctions might prove to have a domestic political cost for Trump.

Vladimir Putin’s response seems, on the surface, to also be a gift to the President-elect, but, in fact, is a rather transparent trap. It strokes Trump’s ego evidenced by the latest Trump bromance tweet regarding Putin’s smarts. Now, whatever Trump does — keep or increase sanctions or reduce them, Trump has problems at home.

Trump is selling himself pretty cheap. Waiting to see how quickly the GOP Congress abandons almost 70 years of strident anti-Soviet and 30 years of anti-Russia ideological posturing.

This whole spectacle is like something out of a John LeCarre’ novel. Putin patiently bides his time until his implanted mole is firmly…