How The US Stayed On Top for Decades

For most of modern history, great powers didn’t have allies — they had enemies in waiting. When a country gets strong enough, everyone else starts planning for the day it turns on them.

The United States was the exception.

Not because we were perfect.

Because we understood something basic: power works better when it looks like leadership instead of entitlement.

I’ve been traveling internationally for about forty years. Here’s something that would shock most Americans who haven’t left the country in a while:

Much of the world has moved on.

Cities are cleaner. Infrastructure is newer. Trains run on time. Healthcare is simpler. Daily life, in many places, is smoother, safer, and more modern than what we tolerate at home.

In some corners of the U.S., we look like the developing country now.

You don’t see that if you never leave.

And here’s why that matters.

For decades, other countries put up with our messiness because we were predictable, fair enough, and broadly aligned with a rules-based system that benefited everyone.

That’s changing.

We walk away from international institutions like they’re optional.

We talk openly about “running” other countries and taking their resources.

We stop using the language of partnership and start using the language of ownership.

That doesn’t project strength.

It projects risk.

And our allies are reacting exactly the way history says they should.

Europe is building trade and security plans that don’t depend on Washington.

Canada is quietly reassessing whether the relationship is still special.

Mexico is hedging — paying protection money while preparing backup options.

These aren’t acts of rebellion.

They’re acts of self-preservation.

Once a superpower starts saying, “Power entitles,” every smaller country asks the same question:

Entitles you to what? And am I next?

That’s how leadership collapses without a single shot fired.

That’s how “America First” becomes “America Alone.”

History is full of strong nations that ruled by fear.

It’s also full of strong nations that woke up one day surrounded by better, calmer, more functional alternatives.

America avoided that fate for a long time — not because we were saints, but because we understood that trust compounds.

We’re burning that capital fast.

And once the world learns it doesn’t need you, it doesn’t come back just because you feel tough.

That’s the path we’re on.

And it ends badly — not for them.

For us.