Honestly, I don't believe that anyone is truly "confused" about the source of a .gov website, especially folks who are reading HN on a weekend. They might view it as arbitrary (it's not, really) but it's certainly not a "oh man I just don't understand how this could be the case" level of confusion.

I won't go so far as to say that the internet is an American invention but it was certainly primarily American in origin. .gov has been managed by the US government since the beginning.