> How about this: Consider our loss of support for Ukraine as an abandonment of aspirations of hegemony in Eastern Europe. 

But you are not abandoning those aspirations, that's the problem. The US has spent decades embedding itself into the security and foreign policy structures of other countries, effectively giving itself veto power over the decisions of tens of countries. Now it unwilling to use that power responsibly, but at the same time it is unwilling to give it up too.

There is a strange assumption in the US establishment that their current position in the world is the natural order of things and not the result of decades of Cold War era cooperation. Despite all the complaints about allies freeloading, the establishment seems utterly shocked and confused when those allies start reducing their dependence on the US, for example, by pivoting investments into their own weapons production instead of buying American.

You want the benefits of having allies dependent on the US, while treating any attempt by allies to become more self-reliant as a problem. Talk about entitlement!