>The neocon (or alt-right, or whatever) attitude is that the planet is too massive and powerful for us to affect it

Not exactly, that's the idea that's been pushed on the people who don't think for themselves, and so those people believe it, just like they believe other fake news.

The "leaders" that actually pushed the idea know that global warming is happening, and that humans are (at least a part of) the cause; they just don't care, profits are more important.