I think for decades the US empire was seen as the lesser of 2-3 evils, the others being the USSR/Russia and China.

Now the US has gone the way of Russia, so China is the next logical answer, with Iran coming out of the current conflict as a major world power in it's own right.

What we're seeing is the logical conclusion of decades of having a sense of supremacy in the USA. Dipshits in this country bought into our own hype, thought we were invincible, and are still in denial that its all crashing down, and that its their fault.