No. of Recommendations: 16
I understand everything you’re saying. The problem with it is that we can’t afford it anymore. That’s the reality.
It doesn't cost us anything to refrain from threatening Greenland, though.
Regardless of whether we can't afford it anymore (and I disagree with you that this wasn't sustainable), it's inarguable that we're choosing not to do it anymore. And once we don't do it anymore, we're not going to lose just the obligations that came with being the Leader of the Free World. We're also going to lose the benefits.
One of the benefits was that all of the countries that have been our allies would treat us as if we were not an adversary. Because they could rely on the fact that we wouldn't treat them as adversaries.
Now that we've changed that, it should be no surprise that all of our long-time allies are now going to start treating us like Just Another Country, rather than someplace exceptional. Again, not the baddies - but we're not The Good Guys as much as we have been, both under Democrats and Republicans.
It's not being "maximal." We have decided to be less what we used to be, and more self-interested. Perhaps not 100% self-interested, since Trumpism is merely ascendant and not completely implemented yet. But all of our longtime allies will and should start to treat us as walking away from taking into account anyone's interests but our own, as Rubio stated.
Which means that the difference between us and other countries has narrowed. China hasn't changed, but we have changed a lot.
