I've heard far more of the latter, including other fascist reasons like "being an ethnostate", training all their citizens to become useful tools for the nation, etc.
It's fascinating because this means there exists a potential future where as Americans' material conditions further worsen, and they start to lose their faith in capitalism/neoliberalism and liberal democracies, they may willingly push for fascism or a dictatorship
Liberals voted for a straight up Law and Order Ticket in 2020. There's not a doubt in mind that if it was to "save us from Trump" they'd be perfectly happy with Biden refusing to step down after a loss in 2024.