As you say, it's xenophobia, but you have to take account that the "xeno" includes American liberals as well.

Right wings define the "us" as "the people who use oil and gas". That was what made the country rich in the first place, and anybody attempting to change at must be trying to dethrone American power.

Obviously that conflicts with another part of their definition of "us", as technological innovators. The conflict set up by idealizing the 1950s creates a kind of weird retro-futurism.

We all deal with cognitive dissonance, so I wouldn't criticize them too hard for that. But when it comes to fossil fuels, it requires denying rather a lot of science and economics, and that's not going to end well.