I’m very familiar with the evangelical types who are running the federal government right now. Anything that doesn’t support the claim that the earth is only 5000 years old is considered a partisan issue to these fuckers.

While this is a good long-term heuristic, I'd describe the upper rungs of government as more cynical on matters of science and theology than a typical fundie.

The only relevant difference is that you might be able to push it back a bit on "strategic interest" types of arguments

It seems like they did all this to please Elon Musk and advantage SpaceX. The people at the top are nihilists. They don't even believe the things they say.