Why doesn't US ditch zero-sum mentality in African development?

When US National Security Adviser John Bolton was laying out the new US strategy for Africa, which he announced on Dec 13, his primary concern was not about helping African countries with their economic and social development, but rather about countering China and Russia to advance the United States' selfish geopolitical goals.

Such a zero-sum mentality of a US politician came as no surprise. Former US secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and Rex Tillerson, and incumbent Vice-President Mike Pence have all labeled China's investment in, and trade with, Africa as "predatory" or "debt trap", or as tools of "neocolonialism".

Arthur Herman, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, has endorsed Bolton's remarks. In a National Review article, titled "The Coming Scramble in Africa", Herman argues that China and Russia are ahead of the game to a degree, but the US has the advantage going forward. Like Bolton, Herman is neither a China expert nor an Africa expert, and therefore sees everything China does as bad and a threat to the US.