> The US sees itself as a "force of good" through its influence on the world with its military.
> But the US is very bad about CO2
You should probably drop the "but". The US seeing itself as a "force of good" doens't make it one.
> But the US is very bad about CO2
You should probably drop the "but". The US seeing itself as a "force of good" doens't make it one.
> But is used to connect ideas that contrast. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/but
The way it's phrased puts "sees itself as a force of good" in contrast with "is bad".
"Is bad" doesn't make sense to be in contrast with "sees itself as...". It's more likely that it's "good [through influence/military]" in contrast with "bad [in CO2]".
Alternatively, perhaps it was meant as "(sees itself as) bad [in CO2]" but that's not much of an argument about anything.