Is the lowest anywhere on Earth with the possible exception of Israel. 90% of the US initially supported the invasion of Afghanistan. Things went bad and then everyone convinced themselves they opposed it from the beginning. There was more opposition to the invasion of Iraq from the start, but I think it's obvious most of that is not due to suddenly-obtained moral opposition to killing foreigners, but in reaction to Afghanistan not being the runaway success that all the good little Fascists thought it would be. Basically the same reasoning behind Operation Valkyrie: those in charge are not competent enough to fulfill their genocidal project of which I otherwise approve.
That stat alone is wholly damning to me, but there's so much more. Interracial marriage had majority disapproval until the mid 90s. Homosexuality has been treated with both casual and thorough disgust until the tide finally began to turn in the late 2000s and then everyone convinced themselves once again that they opposed bigotry from the very beginning.
Most people see the homeless as nothing more than annoying obstacles, and recognition of humanity is rare.
The people on the TV and NPR talked about China for a couple years and now most people see the PRC, a nation with an objectively observable policy of non-interference, as the US's greatest enemy (and no, they obviously don't mean the greatest enemy to American hegemony as almost no one even recognizes that the US occupies such a position). How many of the people, even Socialists, who bought into the Uyghur genocide, have even glanced at prison conditions in the US, or the ongoing treatment of Native Americans? How many have even the slightest inkling of the US's campaign of eradication of Black Nationalism?
All of the good, bleeding heart people showed their deep, abounding empathy for the people of Ukraine because the TV Man told them they should. What do you think the rate of Zionism is among people whose hearts ache for Ukraine? How many do you think are even aware that the US is actively starving Afghanistan, and of those who are, how many oppose it? The only time the TV Man has depicted Afghans as humans has been when they convinced those bleeding heart supporters of women's liberation that we needed to save the downtrodden women of Afghanistan by turning their nation into rubble and their people into viscera.
White people finally got an inkling of what a monstrous force of white supremacist brutality the police are only when smart phones made personal cameras ubiquitous and social media made those images impossible to completely repress. Even then, the TV Man told them that giving this monstrous force of white supremacist brutality less money is unreasonable, so it didn't happen.
I think the explanation is fairly simple: the US' owes its place in the world to its system of vassalage, exploitation, and eradication. It must convince its populace that this system is justified. And for many people, it's not that hard a sell when they're seeing dividends. Even many poor Americans live lives of comfort and ease when compared with vast swathes of the world (especially the places the US and its vassals are exploiting the most).
All this is to say: Americans are materially incentivized to favor Imperialism and the social order it has enabled. We see the effects of this all around us, every day. Fortunately, our salvation comes in the biggest contradiction we also see all around us: shit is falling apart. De-dollarization is finally, slowly beginning. The US's vassals are chafing under hegemony. Things are going to get much much worse, and people won't find Imperialism and its social order such a good sell.
I don’t think much of what you are saying is untrue, but it also ignores the mass hysteria induced by 9/11 that led to the War in Afghanistan. That is why that 90% happened. I was against the war, but I was also a teenager, and nearly every other teen or adult around me seemed to be bloodthirsty in the most bleak way. And the media was rubbing its hands with glee, fresh with the memory of the first Gulf War spectacle ratings bonanza. I think it was because the 90s were the US’s “golden age” of neoliberalism, and the boomers that had to hide under their desks as children, being told the lie that the USSR would destroy their world, had “won” the cold war and could now order a Russian bride in the mail. Americans thought they were actually the greatest and it broke their brains. But that was always a Hollywood induced fantasy. As you said, more or less, the contradictions of capitalism always hold the seeds of its own destruction. Eventually the dollar will fall and maybe we will all get what our settler ancestors deserved.
I think the revolutionary potential everywhere is abysmal, and seemingly hopeless, right up until it occurs. Then everyone looks back and says it was inevitable. This was the case in Russia, China, Cuba, and nearly every other revolution in history. The thing that makes Yankee leftism so infinitely frustrating is the sheer volume of people who “get it” but instead of rolling up their sleeves, going outside, and building class power , just post online, endlessly doomscroll and wax poetic about how revolution is impossible here. I think it is correct that the lifestyle here is simultaneously either too opulent (in some ways) and soul crushing (in other ways) that it can become easy to give up on organizing and just focus on trying to be happy with interpersonal relationships or treats or whatever. If it feels hopeless just try to remember that Lenin himself never believed he would see revolution in his lifetime.