Power is when you are currently knee deep in a war that has expended 3,000 munitions in the first few days and upended the global economy, part of which was to distract from the fact your entire inner circle are pedophiles and China is still the number one thing on your minds.
They're not wrong.
The US retains the capacity for global violence, to a degree that China can hardly match.
Being peaceful has its benefits, but when push comes to shove, as Mao said, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." Anyone familiar with Chinese (or in general, world) history understands that states are never started or ended by economics. It's always by an army.
But having an army with a global reach is one thing, using it properly is another. Defeating the Iranian regime is not as easy as just dropping a couple thousand bombs. Four years after it began, Russia has still to conquer Ukraine despite the latter being absolutely devastated by Russian bombardment and artillery. A third of the Ukrainian population has been displaced, yet Ukraine still stands.
What seems certain is the US is not going to get out of its own "Ukraine" with a quick victory. It's going to have to grind.