It wouldn’t have cost Trump anything to show a clear intent to deter in a strategically crucial moment; it wouldn’t even have undermined his efforts in Ukraine.
[T]rump has sent a message to every autocrat on the planet: aggression pays, and Western patience has its limits. History will harshly judge this capitulation dressed as diplomacy.
No sooner had the U.S. ambassador broken her year-long silence with 'concerns' than Guyana’s attorney general bustled into action, like some jack-in-the-box, as though he had nothing else to do.