Forgive me as I try to articulate what I'm thinking.
Being the sole super power somehow turned out to be bad thing. We (the USA) needs to an opponent, a competitor to better define and understand ourselves.
During the Cold War, aspirational preaching about human rights and democracy and capitalism was a way for us to differentiate ourselves from our opponents. A bit like Scott Galloway's thesis about Apple using privacy as brand laddering technique to differentiate itself from Google, Samsung, etc. Privacy is not central to Apple. But it makes for great ad copy.
I'm not saying USSR, China, whoever were (are) better or worse than the USA. I have no opinion and I really don't care. (Well, I do have an opinion. People in glass houses...)
What I am saying is the USA needs the idea of an opponent. So that domestically it (we) can set aside our differences to meet the external threat. And to have some kind of narrative to pitch why aligning with the USA is the better choice.
I don't think the USA is unique this way. Us vs them is base human psychology.
I do hope that The Powers That Be, on both sides, under stand the realpolitik is just kabuki and it matters don't degenerate into another Cold War. We don't need another arm's race.