I think there's a racial element to it too. White people were having their country invaded, white people were refugees, white people were taking a gallant stand to fight to the last man in defense of home and hearth. Racists could root for the underdog and feel righteous about caring about refugees while continuing to follow :us-foreign-policy:

…oh god, I know exactly that stupid, stupid feeling of hope you’re describing. The feeling that, even if we lose, there’s still proof that we’re not all sleepwalking zombies doomed to toil even after death.

Could it be that wanting things on the global stage in general is a liberalism? That we need to just read the theory and do the praxis?