There was a bit of a moment after the USSR dissolved where the US was just kinda spinning its wheels without any clear purpose. We still had all the institutions for weapons manufacturing, intelligence gathering, financial strong-arming -- they were still doing their thing, but without an overall narrative to give a unified sense of purpose.

You can almost imagine 9/11 being somewhat of a relief -- like, oh thank god a clear external enemy, now we don't have to struggle justifying our continued existence. And, of course, now our leaders can't agree on weather we're in existential conflict with Russia or China or both. This go round, we are the crumbling gerontocracy.