Even if this were true (which of course it's not), doing bad stuff in the open actually is far and more deleterious to the fabric of society than doing bad stuff in secret.
for the societies all over the globe that have been the targets of such policies for more than a century, I think it's better to call a spade a spade. the non-American politicians and aristocrats that benefit from US imperialism get to hide much better if the Americans are "the good guys"
This is of course what we're seeing today, where Trump is just discovering his taste for utilizing American military power to achieve his whims.
Hopefully we get bogged down in Iran enough not to continue, but obviously as soon as we started the Iran conflict, the GOP was already talking about "Cuba's next" etc, which is obviously the start of an infinitely long list of places to "liberate."
This situation is far worse for everyone than the one where the US is mostly benign (despite mistakes) relative to its incredible power.
The only difference is that Donald Trump doesn’t care about plausible deniability at all, unlike previous presidents,which is why the American public remembers (the demons) George Bush neutral or slightly positive. They should both have died in prison.
I understand that it’s true that the USA has been problematic in the past but in this case, the story being sold to people about the US “always” having been bad exists to convince people that there is no other way, and you either have to accept it or tear it all down. Interestingly both benefit the current administration
The USA has not been “problematic”, it has enforced a particular ideology on the world with the rest of us unwilling participants.
The USA has repeatedly overthrown diplomatically elected leaders(Iran ironically being the best example, a democratic government toppled because it was stopping American business interests and democratising its oil resources) so the USAs ownership class can make their fortunes.
Sometimes , it has stopped elections, exterminated millions, set their villages on fire, because the people were picking the wrong ideology.
Remove your rose tinted glasses.
Militarily, the US can trivially eradicate entire countries. It is “only” our leadership and their sense of morals (imperfect and spotty as they are) that prevents this.
Your equivocation is beyond naive.