Like I keep saying through the years: Not everything the right does or says is part of some brilliant master plan. The truth is most of these people are just not that bright. If they were Trump would've won four years ago, or at least succeed in stealing it. They are not constantly ten steps ahead of you. If they were they wouldn't keep losing elections: Generals, midterms, you name it. All those losses weren't all some big feint to get us here.
Just as many analyses and polling I've seen show Dems benefitting. I've seen both and tried to show both but we can't just lean on our own priors, as Jain says above.
As for Politico, it is owned by a right-wing German magnate who told his staff to pray Donald Trump wins. And most of its staff came from conservative outlets. Politico itself originated from conservative journalists and their newsletter.