While Jon’s idea of allying with the wildlings is certainly smart, don’t you think he goes a little overboard? The Weeper is not just any raider, but a raider known to commit numerous atrocities that no other wildling has committed & yet Jon insists on letting him pass. Plus the Hardhome mission-where he risks experienced fighters & sailors on a gamble to save 1000’s of people who most likely won’t survive the journey back & are in no state to help defend the wall, and whom he can’t even to feed

Oh, I absolutely think he went overboard. As I discuss in my essay in Hymn for Spring, both Jon Snow and Dany in ADWD fit the profile of reformers who push too fast, too hard to change the system, while neglecting the vital task of building up a solid constituency behind their reforms. 

In Jon’s case, he really should have been selling his plans to the leadership and the rank-and-file from the very beginning, whereas in OTL he only started to explain himself after the fact, and he should have been cultivating a base of support among Castle Black men who had served under him during the siege. 

As for Hardhome, that was a classic case of mission creep – yes, in the best of all possible worlds, it would be good to rescue those people. But Jon risked a lot of manpower and precious assets to do it, and then when it all went wrong, he wanted to throw even more manpower and assets at it.