I substantially agree with your post Pileus. If you haven't seen my recent post on Empire: America, I posted an article about McConnell's duplicity with regard to the probe involving Russian involvement with the election. I wouldn't go as far as calling him a traitor though, but personally I cant stand the guy.
They are cowardly traitors to their country and of humanity. Corporations are people, but they are a special kind of people with much more influence over elected officials than meat and bone people. That wouldn't be so bad if corporations were US citizens with US interest. These are corporations who's interest lie along other nations, in this case in particular Russia. BY delivering policy developed to give aid and comfort to the US, like this fossil fuel binge, these people, Trump, Tillerson, and many GOP and Dems, are traitors.
How will this treason play out? many ways
1. IT will deepen the US addiction to foreign oil, further widening the fossil fuel vulnerability. If at anytime Putin decides to cripple the US, all he has to do is close the spigots. At that point the US economy will crash and burn.
2. By keeping the US and the world addicted to oil, Putin guarantees an ice free arctic. Russia gains thousands of miles of coast, which they will completely control.
3. Russia is one of the coldest countries on Earth. The probably have millions of miles of cold impenetrable forests. According to naive climate theory, since the climate will be the same but warmer, all he has to do is wait for the forest to burn under the lack of snow and then take advantage of the new warmer great plains. At the very same time that Russia is reaping the benefits of global warming, The US looses its climate advantage.
Or so goes the plan. Of course they are being foolish. The climate will not be the same but warmer. Millions perhaps billions will die adapting to the new climate, including many russians. But that doesn't matter to them. what matters is to make Russia great again.