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Back in 1976, in the movie All the President’s Men, Woodward and Bernstein are told to “follow the money” to get to the truth, understand motivations, and see the big picture.

Follow the money. Always good advice, especially in business and politics.

For example, consider the following facts about Russia, the oil industry, and the orange vulgarian, Donald Trump.

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In 2012, oil behemoth ExxonMobil entered into a partnership with the Russian oil company Rosneft (world’s 2nd largest oil/gas company, state-controlled) to develop oil reserves under 63 million acres in the Russian Arctic. The deal was estimated to be worth a mind-blowing five hundred billion dollars.

To celebrate, Vladimir Putin awarded the “Russian Order of Friendship” to Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil. As you may know, Putin, Tillerson, and Trump have a history of personal and business ties and speak glowingly of each other.

But then Putin invaded and annexed Crimea, and the United States and other countries imposed sanctions against Russia that blocked the Rosneft/ExxonMobil deal.

Tillerson and ExxonMobil lobbied strongly against imposing sanctions, but were unable to stop them.

At the moment, 15 of the 20 largest energy-producing companies in the world are state-controlled. This means the head of state is the de facto head of the energy company. Saudi Arabia’s oil company is the world’s largest, followed by Russia, Abu Dhabi, Iran, and China.

FYI, the U.S. has no state-controlled energy company. We’re the only major country that doesn’t own and control its oil and gas industries.

Also FYI, ExxonMobil is the world’s largest non-state-controlled oil company.

So, to summarize: a mammoth oil deal was blocked because Russia got punished for steamrolling and annexing one of its neighbors. Imagine the anger and frustration left seething inside Putin, Tillerson, and Trump.

When 2016 and the U.S. presidential election arrived, Putin and Russia interfered in the campaign to a degree we civilians don’t fully know. We’re aware that Russia spread fake news stories about Hillary Clinton, stole emails from Democrats, and arranged for the juiciest of them to go public.

All in all, Russia’s intention was to help Trump win. He did.

Almost immediately, Trump nominated Tillerson to be Secretary of State. Tillerson solemnly tendered his resignation from ExxonMobil, the only company he has ever worked for.

The resignation is meaningless, of course. It’s a bit like the Trump children running the family business while Dad is President: an un-blind trust.

There is much in the news lately about Trump and Tillerson bemoaning the bad blood between Obama and Putin. They muse about making nice with Russia. They wonder if sanctions are really, you know, such a good idea. Can’t we all just get along?

Whether the three of them can pull it off, can manage to get the sanctions lifted so their fat oil deal can proceed — well, that’s a jump ball. In time, we’ll find out.

But in the meantime, the moral of the story is clear: to get to the truth, follow the money.