I mostly agree with your conclusion, but this is a very american (I.e. ignorant) response to her concern and i am not surprised she wasnt receptive. I think you underestimate the difference between a country like yours (which has always been a ‘salad bowl’ of cultures united by a commitment to liberalism) and mine (Germany, which is essentially a big tribe of tribes). This difference is even more stark if you look at a place like Denmark.
Here are a few of your points that gave me this impression:
Germany is actually younger than the US
Her concern is (to me) obviously independent of the state we happen to live under. Germaneness is not tied to a political entity. East Germans were German, Volga Germans are German and the German speaking people under the hre were German. (“German” Americans are not German btw.) This also makes your comment about
Her mom was an East German and described to us how they had an entirely separate culture
baffling (to me).
US culture has, … tangibly benefitted from immigration over the centuries.
The us is in many ways a much worse country than Germany (or almost any EU country). I don’t see why we should strive to emulate that model.
Das Thema wird in anderen Ländern halt ganz anders gesehen als hier (in Deutschland). Frag mal die Franzosen, was die von ihrem Atomstrom denken. Oder die Amerikaner (die auf reddit sehr dominant sind). Wenn man den deutschsprachigen Diskurs zu dem Thema gewohnt ist, sind diese Meiningen erstmal ungewohnt.
Dass die über den deutschen Strommix nicht viel wissen sollte auch nicht zu überraschend sein. Viele dieser Leute sind über Memes informiert. Die wissen von Nord-stream, dem Atomausstieg und den hohen Strompreisen. Ähnlich wie hier vor ein paar Jahren viele aus drei Schlagzeilen über Griechenland die einzig richtige Meinung ableiten konnten.