Honestly I think it’s neither, it’s just stupidity, incompetence and spite.

I mean, it's not exactly hard to see what the cause is of the resistance to electric cars and renewable energy: it's a combination of the vastly wealthy fossil fuel industry throwing its weight around, and specifically behind the Republican Party, and said party taking that and turning it into an ideological issue almost akin to a religion.

There are certainly some with power who are keen to "see the country slide in reverse towards a backward theocracy that would be easier to control", but by and large they're just riding an existing wave that's largely an emergent property of the system, while maybe making some nudges here and there to reduce the resistance to said wave.

no, they mean there's no interest in tomorrow's profits when you can have them today. besides "they" won't be here tomorrow, so get it now. Don't be a simp and leave things for someone else.

> I think a US private company pioneered electric cars.

Electric cars have been around since the late 1800s. If you mean modern ones, in the US the California Air Resources Board basically willed them back into existence in the 90s, and a California automaker (Tesla pre-Musk) made great strides in their public esteem by putting a battery pack and electric motor into a Lotus chassis and selling it as the "Roadster" (leaning on the prior art of companies like Ford and especially GM's EV1).

I argue you are overvaluing AI and self driving and undervaluing the capability to build high-tech products, systems, and infrastructure.

That US private company was significantly enabled by a (apparently temporary) government policy of direct and indirect financial support. That company does not exist without the direct and intentional support by the US government.