No one is insisting they must come from distant stars and galaxies.
Trump has called for UFO/UAP disclosure from the Pentagon and all other agencies. Vance has said, "Aliens may be demons." And Tulsi, Rubio, and Ratcliffe have said "something is here" (referring to unknown non-human entities claimed to have been experienced by members of our military and others).
Perhaps they are all victims of a giant psyops, but, if so, that would be a really giant psyop.
“Other intelligent life on earth”
Nope can’t rule that out. Seems mighty unlikely, but no physical reason it couldn’t be true