I'm sure Apple didn't intend to have desire for the "old" 5/5S-sized original SE cannibalize its later and larger offerings the 6, 6S, 6s+ models. Tim Cook said in that keynote in March of 2016 that it was largely because of clamor for a smaller one again that caused the SE to be brought into the product line "even though the vast majority" of customers preferred a larger phone.
Cook was basically saying ok look we're not turning away part of a brand-loyal customer base just because most of that base has moved on and likes the larger ones. So we're adding a smaller phone back into the lineup.
So to me it made sense they didn't emphasize that model especially in the US. It was never meant to be their flagship phone in the then current lineup. But the smaller phone's pre orders exhausted whatever they had figured was the US market immediately since the ship dates slid out very fast... and it later sold like hotcakes in Asia, particularly to Chinese customers for whom the SE was their first iPhone.
I can see why keeping a slightly smaller phone alive now as the "SE 2" in the current lineup can have similar prospects, just generally due to the lower cost. It represents Apple's iconic smartphone very well at a great price to a market that may upgrade in the future. It may be especially fortuitous considering the coincidental occurrence of the economy-bashing coronavirus. People do still need smartphones even if they're laid off from work; their older models eventually croak or their kid drops the hand-me down model that's out of warranty.
