Fairly neutral way of looking at it, and that’s a nice thing to consider although I’m not sure if the U.S. is executing that correctly if you’re correct. After all, making security guarantees is an even easier way to end the war, including appeasing Russia by at least allowing them to continue their occupation.

Hawks also have the possibility that Ukraine makes headway in the war itself, which was the hope of the Biden administration providing support in the first place since US-Russia relations aren’t as valuable to most people as US-EU+others, even if China allies with Russia (which could still happen, as Russia hasn’t proven to be trustworthy in the past, anyway).

In other words, hawks probably have it right that U.S. is better off with it’s current allies, but if we give Trump the benefit it the doubt (a literal devil’s advocate) then at least there’s some rational, even if misguided. Plus, there is the truth that Ukraine is having difficulty taking back, although you could certainly say the US and EU haven’t given them enough to push forward out if fear of nuclear retaliation.

The whole situation sucks, though, rationale or not.