It never stood for the things it claimed to stand for in the first place*—going all the way back to We the People**—and the receipts keep piling up. Trump isn’t some exceptional case; it’s always been so. Today America stands for the international rules-based order, which is not what it says on the tin. What it is is neocolonialism.
*It did stand for manifest destiny, though. It still does, but it used to, too.
**The “we” was exclusive to white, land-owning males, a.k.a. the bourgeoisie. It certainly didn’t include native Americans, chattel slaves, or women.
Exactly, it’s more that the narrative the US has built up around itself is starting to come apart and their vassals are now squirming.
But they also want to have some fig leaf of legitimacy while engaging in said wars. The fact that it’s being blown away now is what’s making them upset.
