As I said in the original comment and haven’t really touched on since, it’s about the campism. This would be a valid criticism of modern “soldiering” in general, but the strong implication that this is a uniquely American problem is completely ridiculous.

If anything, the real world reputation of American soldiers in regards to civilians is among the least terrible. That’s not to say they are ethical in an absolute sense, because there have been lots of sickening incidents, for instance abu ghraib, but nothing like the reputation of Russian or even Chinese soldiers.

If there is a glaring failure in this regard that continues to be an issue, it’s with drone strikes and other weapons of mass destruction. You still don’t have practices like what Russia is doing to Kiev, but the US is still way too quick to brush off “collateral damage”. There is also a lot to criticize on how the US justifies it’s interventions. The current attack on Iran is entirely unjustified, and it has plenty of support from both parties.

On the ground though, US frontline troops are among the best trained in the world at avoiding civilian casualties and cooperating with local populations. I’m sure that’s getting worse under Hegseth, but US armed forces have been taught to question orders in ways that other great powers are reluctant to allow, especially Russia. If anyone is better it’s some European forces, but the people who embrace this cartoon would not like that point since it’s still “the west”.

I really hate campism because the real war is with the global elites. Elites spend lots of money to promote the notion that what really matters is the fight between good and bad governments, always with different ideas of which is which. Meanwhile the elites themselves have no national allegiances. Trump clearly identifies far more as a member of the global elites than as an American. The elites are the enemy the left should be fighting.