**"Let’s run a depressing thought experiment.
It’s the fall of 2017, and Russian forces have just swept into Estonia, a NATO member and strong US ally. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon’s other top brass remind President Trump that the US is treaty-bound to send troops to help beat back the Russian advance. Trump flatly refuses.
The new president may have legitimate reasons: a belief, perhaps, that he could use his personal relationship with Putin to persuade the Russian leader to withdraw without further bloodshed. Trump might also decide that Putin is so hell-bent on conquering Estonia that trying to stop him could send the two countries down a slippery slope toward full-blown war, a price he doesn’t think America should pay.
This is the truly depressing part: Regardless of Trump’s reasoning, US allies around the globe and a significant chunk of the American public would see it as proof that Putin had hacked the US electoral system to help get a friendly president into office — and was now reaping the rewards."**