Honestly, the idea that the heat map leaves Russia with the smoking gun makes me even less convinced that it was Russian hackers.

You can bet that if such an analysis is being made public already, that any attackers could have foreseen the use of if and planned accordingly.

The first question you should ask when it comes to state-sponsored hacking is who has the most to gain from such information, from the Commerce Department, no less? Only one name comes to mind: China.

"Deep state". Seriously? We have to endure that stupidity here too?

In a situation like this, you also have to consider the possibility that it was actually China, and they "attacked" themselves and left Russia alone solely to finger Russia, or even that it was the NSA, who did the same to make it look like it was Russia and that the US was the primary target, when in fact they were really stealing data from China and using the whole thing as a cover, or just trying to turn public opinion (even more) on Russia. Getting into the realm of conspiracy theory, sure, but neither would be an unrealistic or unbelievable situation. Most likely, yeah, it was Russia, but all three countries are devious enough that any one of these situations, or any number of others, is possible.