Smerconish knows completely well that we would treat that as an imminent threat to our security and we would have near-unanimous agreement within the two parties that initiation of military action would be warranted, yet, somehow, Russia is not entitled to the same thing. Oh, that's right, because we're the good guys and they're the bad guys. When we invaded Iraq, it was for noble reasons. When Joe was VP, it was perfectly fine for him to tell Ukraine's leadership to get rid of this official or else, but we would never allow a representative from some other nation to try to "leverage" who should be removed or added from our government.
There's a very simple lesson in all this: if the foreign policy action you would like to take against some other nation is something you would not tolerate it doing to you, then don't do it. Stop meddling in the political/military affairs of other nations, particularly when they are half-a-world away. Fortunately, I think we're living at a time when most of the people who actually show up to vote think the same thing. I don't think most voters are interested in ramping up our involvement in Ukraine and Taiwan and risking freaking nuclear wars. It's madness and I trust most voters understand this.