Pretty bleak outlook. But one... all in all... that is totally deserved given past history. If politics was the poison that ruined good intentions in the past... it's certainly become magnified given the last four years. People don't think right and wrong, like they at least made it seem like they used to. People think in one-upmanship and my Party is better than your Party. I've plenty of discussions with Trumpers, even outside this forum, where I've seen time and again that logic goes absolutely nowhere. This is why stolen election lies get swallowed hook, line, and sinker. This is why a previously unthinkable event, like a forced breach of the Capitol by a vicious mob, becomes the subject of debate along predictable Party lines. To watch and hear Congresspeople, paid by taxpayers money, call January 6th a peaceful demonstration... is to realize just how far down the rabbit hole this society has fallen. Which is why I refuse to identify fully with any Party. They have proven incapable of objective thought all the way up to the highest levels. Credibility is a word of the past. Democrats had four years to constructively prepare for 2020... and IMO they did a horseshit job. For sure Biden is an upgrade from Trump. But that's about as far as I'm willing to go with that. When the bar is Trump... a trained sub-human primate is an improvement.

So yeah... your bleak outlook is justifiable. Surely Afghanistan will offer few, if any, lessons learned. History will repeat itself ad nauseam.