An interesting thought there, which brought stuff up in my head that I’m just going to get out. 

I think they did once, but have relied on past endeavours to build an image in the world that instills fear of what is possible. 

I see it like an athlete that peaks and then declines, during that decline they perform on their own past performances and are often revered for what they have done instead of what they are currently doing. Ultimately, when the performance is not living up to expectation, they begin to resort to underhand tactics as it means to maintain that image.

In this case, the fact that they are the only nation to use nuclear weapons has been utilised as the Spectre of what they are capable of, which has instilled fear around the world of what they could do. 

But in reality since that event, where the USA has really excelled is the underhand tactics to attempt to maintain hegemony, the veil on this is becoming very thin now with many around the world seeing through it. 

This more than likely accounts for the boldness and growing instability / power struggles and push back, that are beginning to manifest.

Of course this doesn’t only apply to the USA, but it’s also echoed with other great powers. The UK also is reliant on past endeavours to serve as reputational deterrent, but in reality I’m doubtful that any great power that relies on this can fulfil on the perception.

Please excuse me, riffing those thoughts out, and blurting out my two sats worth, I just felt the need to get that out of my head.
 👊🏻 

 Not a problem at all, you basically summed up what I was thinking perfectly. No one is really afraid of the US anymore. The world saw that the US military couldn’t defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, struggled against insurgents in Iraq and don’t really do anything when international law is violated such as when Russia took over Crimea in 2014, last but not least the world sees that the US is some how beholden to Israel despite its action harming US foreign policy and global relations around the world. 

Like you said the US is living off past glories to maintain its position in the world but how long can this tenuous grip on being the global “hegemon” last? Russia and China obviously don’t like it and are agitating for a new world order. Interesting times ahead for that entire world.