The idea for Minimal government is centuries old.
It's reinforced by Fox News, but it's got far deeper roots. The current US political strain ascended with people like Barry Goldwater and Milton Friedman in the 60s (but has even older antecedents), culminating in Reagan and the modern Republican party in the 80s/90s. Fox News was founded 1996, and the closely-related right-wing talk radio universe only got its start about a decade earlier, I think.
A lot of people fought very hard for a century to try to prevent national government from being able to tell them they couldn't have slaves.
A lot of immigrants, both recent and historical, came to the USA because they didn’t like the government in their home country, Pilgrims as a key example, Falun Gong members leaving China as a more recent example.
The general distrust of a strong government is still part of American culture.
The Paranoid Style in American Politics 1964.
American politics has always been this way. It's simplistic to blame it all on Faux News, or the Civil War or a vague over generalized "racism." The paranoid style even predates the American Revolutionary War. You can draw a straight line from the anti-Mason and anti-Catholic populist movements from the 1800's to QAnon amd Antifa today. It's the exact same narrative, paranoid about vast and powerdul malevolent conspiracies being run by a cabal of the most powerful. The coup plotters names and methods of attack may change, but the structural narrative remains the same.
The Paranoid style it's in our blood, it's a unique trait that defines us as Americans. Therefore I don't knock it and I hope we never lose it.