My reading of the comment was that the "we" who have entered an adversarial world means the entire world, and the "we" who know models can be backdoored means people who have been paying attention to published research on the topic. An adversarial world doesn't care how much you individually are interested in conflict, except to the extent that you might be an easy mark.

To stay at the top you need to keep fighting. Lots of US americans believe that even if they are not benefiting anymore from being the richest country in the world.

"We" is everyone. If you've been paying attention, geopolitical cooperation is trending down, and competition is trending up. Sticking your head in the sand is not a defense against people who consider you a target.

We, meaning people who are informed to some reasonable minimum about this technology, are also aware that you can't just glance at some weights and be like "yep, looks safe". Nobody can claim to do that yet.