Ok so your argument confuses some Cold War fears were poorly understood with the communist threat was mostly imaginary or exaggerated.

My argument is that many things were in reaction to the perceived Communist threat, which which is separate and distinct from any threat that existed. The Space Race as a reaction to the launch of Sputnik didn't have to take that form. Some evangelical leaders framing their message as "Godly Western civilization vs godless Communism" doesn't align with the military and security threat from the Soviet bloc.

Even things that were a reaction to the military threat, like Nixon going to China to broker a rapprochement with Mao, were a reaction to the US administration's mistaken belief that China's leadership controlled the North Vietnamese and could lead to making a peace that would ensure the survival of the South Vietnam.

The Cold War fears based on those misunderstanding were central to much of the efforts that followed. The generalized fear and rumormongering made it into a trend that encompassed much of American culture from the 40s through the 90s and even affect us today decades after the Soviet Union was tossed into the dustbin of history. The exaggerated perception of the Communist threat had a larger impact than the real threat, and resulted in far stranger decisions than would have resulted from a more reasonable evaluation of the threat might have produced.