I agree that much of the domestic chaos is a distraction, and that the U.S. should be focusing on longer term existential issues that affect the whole world, but I wish more people realized how much of the distraction and chaos is intentional.
It's difficult to keep your eyes on the road when someone just tossed a beehive into the car.
Should it? Many US citizens believe that the country is at risk of betraying its fundamental values and becoming something they cannot countenance. Resolving our differences will be hard.
Foreign instigators are poking an existing wound. They may be aggravating the injury, but they didn't create it.
There's no question that the long term interests of the US would be served by staying vigorously engaged in foreign affairs, including in the Ukraine. But does the US have the capability to do so when it is so riven, internally?
Again, the point in this context is that no matter what the crises are, the foreign influence of the US is in decline because of severe domestic distractions.