I sincerely doubt most people are that nuanced in their thoughts. They conflate NATO with the US and things go downhill from there.
Well, the US is the biggest NATO member. Most of the mutual defense pact in fact would end up being pointless without the USA, for example, another superpower could easily roll through several NATO members, if not all of them, but with the US there as a threat, it makes the whole deterrence work. Which makes the NATO dependent on the US and well, which at the same times makes NATO look as not only a mutual defense pact, but also an organization that has an obvious interest in keeping the US happy.
Nuance basically doesn't exist online anymore anyway, so in that we agree.