i think a major challenges for the next "reasonable" American government, will be that the American people voted for "this" twice.

forging any sort of partnership will be challenging if everyone is afraid that the American people will vote for a trump copycat who will cock everything up.

Here is that Commander who was "just following orders."

If your starting point is that you are more afraid of escalation than you are concerned about Russian sabotage, then you have effectively decided that you aren't willing to run the necessary risks to deter Russian grey-zone activity.