I think you're misunderstanding the scope of what we're talking about here. We have always combined having relations with these countries and pressure to improve their human rights. It's not an either/or binary. These weren't countries that were diplomatically isolated like North Korea, nor were we trying to "force" democracy on them. But We were also trying to get them to change their culture - not leap straight to elections next month, but also pushing them to adopt reforms that would lead to the countries going down that road.

No, I understand that all too clearly.

It's not a cultural lens and pretending that the world today is different than it is, but doing the same thing you want to do with China. You're not looking at China and pretending that they're weak and isolated today - you're looking at them and contemplating taking steps so that they will be weaker and more isolated in the future. So, too, with ME countries and human rights: not pretending that they are models of human rights and representative democracy today, but also not accepting that status quo and making sure that we work towards that goal in the future. Which is something that Trump absolutely does not include in his foreign policy.

You're putting words in my keyboard and not getting them right, no offense. My position is quite clear: China is a far bigger threat to the United States than the Soviet Union ever was due to their near-peer status in technology and economics *plus* the fact that modern societies are far more dependent on poorly secured tech than they've ever been. Witness

wired.com - China hackers US water electricity moreno vault
and
baltimoresun.com - Feds plot to disrupt new york cell service larger than initially thought

Everything else is a sideshow.

They don't have a choice.

Yes, they do. You think thousands of Palestinians are ever getting jobs inside of Israel sometime soon? Or that the border posts won't be manned and armed to the teeth from now on? Or that they won't have a lot more radar surveillance and cameras looking at their borders? Or having any compunctions on shooting first and asking questions later? Much like the US still hasn't adopted a relaxed posture in airports and in other secure areas the Israelis aren't going back there, either.