It would be a political catastrophe for Donald Trump if [Chinese] taikonauts reached the lunar south pole before the U.S. hoisted its flag there again..
[W]hen ethics are abandoned for epics, and when political power subverts rational military decision-making, it is not surprising that symptoms of strategic fatigue begin to develop.
Trump and his advisers have repeatedly insisted that the U.S. president can pretty much do whatever he wants and that the pesky Congress need only be consulted rarely.