I don't think they are in denial. I think they just don't care about public sentiment. American capitalism has proven over and over that people who hate you will still buy your product, at a premium.
An alternate interpretation is also possible: that "public sentiment" overemphasizes screaming minorities, and the vast majority just doesn't care.
You haven't seen NIMBY until you've seen what happens when there's even a hint of a new AI data center coming to town. Take the normal complaints about change, and bump them up approximately 3 orders of magnitude, and you'll be in the ballpark.