“I don’t buy it.”
I do. Even today there are people that think we can go to Ukraine and kick some Russian butt, even though it was Russia that has been MODERNIZING their military and developing NEW WEAPONS (often better than anything we have, including a sub-launched nuke with 10 large MIRVs, making our Tridents look like cap guns) for the past 20 years, while all we did was SHUT DOWN program after program during that time.
It makes perfect sense that our ARROGANCE prevented us from having the ability to launch an armed aircraft then...since we have that same level of ARROGANCE, or worse, now.
Unfortunately we will probably have to get another Pearl Harbor type black eye to wake up again.
It may have been ARROGANCE before, it’s DELIBERATE NEGLIGENCE now.
None of those presidents before wanted to see the USA destroyed.
This current one does.