What space race?

NASA us working on a shoestring budget and managed to run some very successful missions. The Artemis Program is/was very succesful, and what does NASA get?

Budget cuts. Money diverted to SpaceX who, under Elon, has yet to do a single succesful mission (the Dragon capsule and reusable rockets were both projects that Elon bought. Starship is the first project that Elon directed).