I've been wondering this myself, not that I necessarily believe it. If they _were_ acting at the behest of a foreign adversary (pick your reason: leverage over an individual because of a targeted campaign, leverage over all of them because of the SolarWinds/Salt Typhoon hack, cash, etc.), how different would their actions look?

Sometimes the tool doesn't have to know he's a tool. The Russians use the term "useful idiot".

They've created the back doors, I'm sure that the Russians and the Chinese are now in the systems the DOGE people broke.

foreign influence like a South African blood diamond heir?

That accusation is wildly off base. He's a blood emerald heir.