You’re right, bammy wouldn’t respond even if the bombers had violated US airspace. Sure, bammy would make some noise, maybe send a strongly worded letter to Putin - probably along with a nice greeting card. Maybe what would really upset bammy would be if one of these incidents interrupted his golf game. Maybe then he’d start acting like a leader. Nah. Besides, I think I’d rather he just finish out his term on the links and leave the US the {expletive} alone. Less likely to do any more damage that way. I’ll take the damage done by an absentee CIC over bammy’s active anti-US stance any day.
Weakness invites aggression. Its a dangerous situation when your adversaries see you lacking in fortitude.
From Putin’s perspective, he see’s a big green light to do whatever he wants and he’s probably correct. For him, its game on. I think its fair to say that if Reagan was president, Puting would be far more accomodating and less aggressive than he currently is.