I feel like superpower status is kind of an outdated term that doesnt account for the fact that countries which are perceived as more powerful/equitable/profitable (such as the US) can always just fake it . like people are still thinking of america as a superpower despite our embarassing covid response because America=superpower will always be engrained in everyone's minds regardless of how and what america is actually doing.

also america was deemed a superpower because of its WW2 response, and although america has done a lot since then to solidify its status as a super power in other decades, it still feels very much tied to this outdated reading of how america handled WW2 (which even then, basing america's superpower status on its ww2 performance isnt really fair considering that the only attach we had on american soil was pearl harbor vs the soviet union getting bombed the fuck out and its economy being strangled)

its kinda like how covid is most likely to be handled forever: always in the background, never going away, but never meaningfully addressed by any political policy because parties get their power from the perception that they are powerful rather than what they actually do.

i feel like post modernism has also very much obscured the line between whats actually happening and whats actually not happening so i fully expect America's superpower status to go the same route

anyway based on this, what the average citizen will do when america loses super power status is absolutely nothing because they wont believe we've lost super power status /will still believe that america is the best regardless of whose in power because those in power should be the white, western, imperialist, hyper capitalist and heavily militarized country