I don't want America to be a global superpower. Too expensive. I'd rather be a quiet, happy country that just takes care of its own and chillaxes.

I doubt that would satisfy the ego of most regular Americans, to say nothing about the leadership. Exceptionalism is very deeply ingrained here.

Regular Americans have very little interest in the rest of the world and derive very little ego from that global role. Americans are nearly universally mocked for that lack of interest. The notion they derive much ego from something they pay so little attention to and have so little interest in, is obviously false. Regular Americans are largely indifferent to the rest of the world.

Trump got elected in part on a platform of ending the globalist war machine and reducing the superpower footprint (and the machine has been fighting him on that every step of the way, see: Bolton's new book, where he says the craziest thing Trump did was not attack Iran). Americans overwhelmingly want that reduction. He's going to be the first President since Jimmy Carter four decades prior, to not get the US into a new war. There were only a few aspects of Trump's campaign that were widely popular, one of which was stepping back from being the world's everywhere superpower. Why would Americans want that if their ego is so tied up in it? Because it's not. The US economy is what makes it powerful (going all the way back to the Civil War era), not going around the world playing superpower. Regular Americans are focused on their own lives, making ends meet, not worrying about Libya-Egypt-Turkey-Syria-Russia.

Americans are very clearly sick of policing the world and how much it costs; they're sick of the cost of being spread around the world and involved in every conflict.

Lol. You don't want to be a superpower but simultaneously also want rising stock markets and global influence.

Before you make the next comment, please check out UK stock indices and Japanese stock indices. Make sure you are ok with the inflated prices they have to pay.