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
I like it when they go all-in and say the only way to build high-speed rail is through slave labor lol.