Very true re Gracie! And I'm not saying U.S. ladies have been consistent or as determined and fearless as they've needed to be to fully realize their talent. But to say they absolutely do not have the tech content/ ability, athleticism and artistry to contend is inaccurate. They simply have not delivered consistently, for a variety of reasons. Re "pulling down PCS," political rep helps as we've seen in the cases of so many Russian ladies prematurely gifted with wowza PCS scores!
Notice that I mentioned a number of milestone political moments that have some bearing on the political rep backing needed to be perceived as a top contender. Add in poor decisionmaking by U.S. fed in any number of instances, and the current state of affairs is understandable. So once again, the fact that U.S. ladies have not delivered the way they should does not mean they don't have the tech content and full rotational ability to do the job.
Part of the problem for U.S. ladies IMHO, is generalized thumbs-down negative perceptions such as you are offering, in addition to grandiose expectations, premature over-hype, and MK-era backlash. I don't see things changing anytime soon with the current U.S. fed crew in charge.
IMHO, Sofia Samodurova, while she's a nice, so far consistent and entertaining skater, she's not more talented than Bradie or Mariah or Courtney. But she is Russian with legendary Mishin as her coach, and the ability to strut her stuff consistently. Thereby more rep in only her senior debut. U.S. ladies have to battle negative perceptions, self-doubt, and lack of effective political backing, as well as the Russian and Japanese deep fields. When Maria Sotskova, Anna Pogorilaya, and Elena Radionova were competing fairly well and winning medals, they were never actually more talented than U.S. ladies either. They may have performed more consistently on occasion, but they had flaws which were often overlooked. Add in another new Russian lady up-and-comer, Konstantinova -- she's very pretty, but workmanlike and boring IMO, which doesn't prevent her from being perceived as a top contender over U.S. ladies.
I'm not suggesting that anyone needs to cry me a river. Just relax the OTT dissing of U.S. ladies. And another thing to relax over is the prospect of up-and-coming tech-talented juniors being able to change anything for U.S. ladies on a dime.