Honestly I think they thought they could gain more direct control faster, remember many of them have only traveled around the US via jet so their idea of how big it actually is is comparable to like Fallout 3. Fact of the matter is the US is fucking massive if which requires a shit tonne of bureaucracy to maintain and they can’t do what they want with it intact, this has resulted in them most likely being bogged down dealing with bureaucrats who have no reason to listen to them. So instead they do their damndest to just burn everything down, which will inevitably weaken their position since they are reliant on soft power.

Also I think Americans are generally more resistant to enacting violence on the feds since they can always pull more manpower from elsewhere. I suspect if the feds start showing an unwillingness or inability to move assets around I suspect that you will see an almost Iceni level of violence towards the feds, this also somewhat applies to cops since they are likely to get federal assistance.