He's actually bending the knee. I'm guessing that cutting US defense spending that badly will be linked into China and Russia also entering some sort of deal to cut defense spending too, alongside some other concessions. Too bad the 180 policy flip that will happen once the Democrats get elected means that this won't be a long term policy and thus impossible for China and Russia and other countries to actually commit to.
With such a drastic move of cutting the budget in half, I think there's a very good chance that NGAD is on the chopping block. Also I really really find it funny that people still consistently treat Russia like it's some kind of superpower on the same tier as China and America.