As I’ve always said, soft power is no joke and the biggest reason the US has so many immigrants. People like to say it’s actually to avoid imperialism and that’s assuming most people immigrating to the US are as versed in politics as we are.

They see Americans living it up on US shows and movies, assume everybody lives like that, and make the journey instead of moving to a wealthy country in the region that wouldn’t have been as difficult to get to.

This is where the USSR struggled. This is why Japan is beloved in countries like the Philippines by their younger generations. It’s also why South Korea is seen so positively. Shit, I’ve even seen it in my country. We have a famous singer in Latin America and people have assumed that Guatemalan men are also attractive and smooth talkers because of him.

Soft power is an absolute must and it doesn’t even need to be blatantly political. China seems to be on the right path with stuff like Genshin and Wukong, but it will be an uphill battle with how hard US media demonizes China.