Look at what JD “couch fucker” Vance wrote. Regarding potentially delaying the strike. He didn’t give any shits about the benefits or risks to lives, only the optics (oil prices going up), politics and his hatred for helping Europe.

Sure, clearing the shipping lanes is “good” but it’s more helpful to Europe “gross” so that’s a tick “con” colum.

Their “worst case scenarios” were all “it could look bad”.

Given the Republican and now MAGA propensity to march in lock step, any break in the ranks is noteworthy.

It’s all in the 2025 play book.

Just look there for any potential illegal activity and they will likely be doing it.

I mean, it’s a common trope in story telling to use an outsider protagonist (from the perspective of the people in the story) to allow world building and immersion in the world/culture your story is set within.

So, the “guy with amnesia”, “orphan kid”, “dude in a foreign land”, “time traveler”, “new person in the organization”, “certain types of isekai” tropes all exist to tell a story where the reader/viewer get to learn as they go.

Fairly popular in historical fiction, fantasy, and many other genera.

It makes “Shogun”, “The Last Samurai”, “Marco Polo”, “Big Trouble in Little China”, and others like them more accessible to “Western” aka “white guy” demographics.

I don’t really see an issue with it, when done well.

Great deal.