This is really confusing.
So the Godless Americans--who want America to fail--get their way...and the Godly Americans get punished...? What kind of God acts that way?
Ummmm...., well, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It happened to many godly people in Israel when the "nation of Israel" was disobedient to God and came under the judgement of God.
Now, there is no one who would call Daniel and also Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego "godless" and deserving of judgment from God (in a human sense) -- but -- they were taken captive and also Daniel never made it back home again, after being deported from Israel to a foreign country to suffer under the judgment of the nation of Israel. Also, presumeably neither did Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego make it home again. Along with them were lots of other of the godly from Israel.
It was the nation that was under judgment and the righteous suffer along with the ungodly. It's not an unknown thing in the Bible.
Even in the book of Job, we see that Job was not deserving of the things that happened to him and God still allowed Satan to wreak havoc upon him and his family. Afterwards, God restored Job and multiplied his fortunes many times over again. But, he didn't restore the original children that he lost as a result of that, but did give him new children.
What is being described here is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom we all worship and follow, those who are named in the Lamb's book of life and have accepted the Messiah of Israel for their salvation.
Nations are judged and in the process, when there are those who are "righteous" in the nation, they will suffer under that judgment upon the nation.
BUT, we must remember that there is no one who is righteous, no one at all, as the Bible says and that only God, Himself, is righteous and all are deserving of the judgment of God and of death.
It's only those who come under the "covering of righteousness" which comes from the Messiah of Israel and accepting the salvation that He provides -- they are the ones who have eternal life, as the Bible says. But, that does not mean that they do not come under judgment on this earth, prior to the time when they receive the fullness of the salvation which will come, upon being united with the others in Christ, when the time comes for their eternal state and bodies to be given to them. In the meantime, all are still sinful and still deserving of judgment, here on this earth. As the Bible says there is no one who is righteous on their own merits... and that was everyone -- who is included in that.