Politics & Power Quote by Richard Reeves

Reeves lands the knife by refusing the comforting story Americans often tell themselves: that global criticism is driven by envy or anti-American malice. He concedes the easy target first - "unilateralist crew" is a jab aimed squarely at the Bush-era foreign-policy posture after 9/11, when the U.S. presented preemption as principle and coalition-building as optional. But the real provocation is the pivot. The insult from abroad, Reeves argues, is not moral condemnation. Its worse: a judgment of capacity.

"Most of the people laughing at us" is doing double work. It paints international opinion as a public spectacle - the superpower as punchline - while also implying a kind of humiliating intimacy. Being called "evil" would at least grant you agency and coherent intention. Being labeled "naive and incompetent" strips you of menace and replaces it with amateurism. Naivete suggests a childish faith that power automatically equals wisdom; incompetence suggests the machinery of government can't execute even its own ambitions.

The line is calibrated to wound a domestic audience that prides itself on seriousness, professionalism, and unrivaled know-how. Reeves understands that Americans can absorb moral critique by reframing it as ideological disagreement. Competence critique is harder to spin: it hits institutions, not just policies. The subtext is strategic, too. If the world sees you as bungling rather than villainous, your deterrence weakens, your alliances fray, and your rhetoric about democracy starts sounding like brand management after a botched rollout.