I thought it was an interesting article because of the intense reaction I've seen to the ratchet meme and others around that concept by people in the USA.

I guess I thought that maybe my (non mainstream) political views made it seem pretty obvious and not exactly a hot take, and I shouldn't expect it to be a wildly held view. This article made me consider that I am probably influenced by being someone outside the USA, and what I have observed in terms of the changes to foreign policy over my decades of existence.

Maybe it makes a massive difference internally, but it feels extremely surface level externally, i.e. the leader being polite and well spoken vs bumbling.

Eta: Happy Halloween (I assume your user name is meant to be spooky)