I will put words into Scott's mouth here:

The USA could "hold Ukraine hostage" that is, it could say. "ok we are going to stop giving you arms if you don't negotiate a peace with Russia awarding them the ground they have taken so far."

Ukraine would need to accept this, since if they did not then Russia would likely end up taking even more ground. So I think the USA could force this issue. And no one is holding a gun to our heads making us pay for more and more weapons here.

but he asked the question: "what is good for the USA?"

certainly the present situation is not great for the USA, nor for all the folks dying either.

Still Crimea then Donbas 7 years later is a pretty clear indication of what a small deterrent will yield. I do think shouting about how we are going to add them to NATO was a stupid and incendiary thing to do.

But we did it. And now we need a strategy that contains Russia.