Part of the reason why Russian propaganda was so successful is because they seemingly promoted "both sides" to create a false sense of choice and "both sides" being valid options, but in reality it was a carefully crafted plan to trick the American public, and it worked. Kremlin's "political engineers" (this is a real job title, by the way) and Ольгино trolls did their job well.
To quote Joseph Goebbels, "The best propaganda is that which, as it were, works invisibly, penetrates the whole of life without the public having any knowledge of the propagandistic initiative." The Soviet government, and by extension the current Russian Federation, knew and applied it very well. One of the most famous examples was the Soviet slogan "по запросам трудящихся" ("by request from the working class"), which was really just state agenda passed as will of the people.
If I had any doubts about Russia's interference in US elections before, now I have absolutely none. I honestly should have known better when France, Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands reported Russian hacker attacks during their elections, but I guess I still hoped our government is not that terrible. Well, it is.
