With hundreds of trillions of dollars on the line, the US media is beating the drum on the 70-year-old plus Russia is bad narrative.

The entire military-industrial complex was built on that premise that we had to go toe-to-toe with Russia on every aircraft, tank and nuclear missile — even if the East did not have that weapon.

What will happen if the Bogey Man is not so bad after all.

Now along comes President Trump to stick a pin in that idea and it unleashes forces from the left and right beholden to escalating defense budgets and growing military bases in their districts.

Peace is too costly to break out across the US visa vis Russia. We need that 70-year-old premise that NATO and containment are what the world needs.

Of course Trump will survive the onslaught of criticism, however threatening to take the milk and honey away from the defense contractors and intelligence agencies is quite another matter.

It was JFK who threatened to break up the intelligence agencies –most notably the CIA — into pieces in 1963 that may have played a part in his assassination.

Let’s hope nothing untoward happens again.