In the new world order of global politics, the delicate egos of world leaders should be considered of paramount importance. Do no criticize his cabinet picks, or his restaurants or the way they run their elections, or you may find yourself on the receiving end of an injured tweet or an attack on your country's democracy.

Hillary Clinton illustrated this beautifully today, when she told a group of Manhattan donors that Russia's hacking of the US election to install our incoming demagogue boiled down to Vladimir Putin's "personal beef" with her.

The Russian president was apparently upset with Clinton because, when she was Secretary of State, she'd called for an investigation into the conduct of the 2011 Russian parliamentary elections after reports of harassment and voter manipulation lead to widespread protests in that country. Politico has the whole story about Putin's hurt feelings.

Here's what Clinton has to say about the apparent revenge plot:

“Putin publicly blamed me for the outpouring of outrage by his own people, and that is the direct line between what he said back then and what he did in this election,” Mrs. Clinton said.

It is the first time Mrs. Clinton has publicly addressed the impact of the hacks since the intelligence community concluded that they were specifically aimed at harming her campaign.

“Make no mistake, as the press is finally catching up to the facts, which we desperately tried to present to them during the last months of the campaign,” Mrs. Clinton told the group, which collectively poured roughly $1 billion into her effort. “This is not just an attack on me and my campaign, although that may have added fuel to it. This is an attack against our country. We are well beyond normal political concerns here. This is about the integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation.”

Clinton also fingered James Comey for her loss, saying that the FBI Director's letter to Congress, 11 days before the general election, about additional emails connected to her use of a private server, lead to swing-state voters to "break against me." Comey's letter came to nothing, but all anyone heard was "email."

Speaking of Comey, CIA Director John Brennan says that the FBI, as well as Jim Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, are in agreement with the CIA's assessment that Russia hacked the US, in part, to put Trump into power. (Brennan didn't mention the beef.)

The CIA shared its latest assessment with key senators in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill about two weeks ago in which agency officials cited a growing body of intelligence from multiple sources. Specifically, CIA briefers told the senators it was now “quite clear” that electing Trump was one of Russia’s goals, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

CIA and FBI officials do not think Russia had a “single purpose” by intervening during the presidential campaign. In addition to helping Trump, intelligence officials have told lawmakers that Moscow’s other goal included undermining confidence in the U.S. electoral system.

Meanwhile, as his cabinet posts get more terrifying, Trump's professed ignorance of Russia's meddling is starting to fall apart.