THE ATLANTIC – Politics | Politics & Government

Not long ago, most of Washington was scrambling to be as friendly as possible to the rise of artificial intelligence. Lawmakers from both parties saw a chance to bolster the nation’s economy—and their campaign coffers. But rarely has public opinion flipped so quickly and so thoroughly as it has on AI in recent months. While AI was making some tech leaders unfathomably rich, many Americans in states both red and blue grew alarmed by the proliferation of loud, electricity-guzzling data centers, convinced that AI would first make life more expensive and then, for good measure, eliminate their job. In the past few days, some of the top voices in the AI industry have gone further, warning that unless development of the technology is slowed, and slowed soon, all of humanity could be made extinct.These fears have rattled markets and galvanized a bipartisan set of leaders into calling for the government to step in. AI has now become a central issue in the midterm elections. But President Trump, who first came to power by closely reading the mood of the country and shifting his views to meet those of the electorate, seems to have his fingers in his ears, ignoring it all and continuing to embrace AI, confident that everything will be fine because he is in charge. Unless, of course, the human race ends first.Trump would seem to have a perfect opportunity to try to contain this fast-moving political conflagration: Next week, he’s set to host China’s president, Xi Jinping, at the White House. The United States and China are the world’s leaders on AI and are in a race to develop the technology. The summit could be a venue, some in the industry hope, to order a pause in development or establish international safety guidelines. But Trump, at least for now, wants no part of a slowdown. AI growth has propped up Wall Street and sectors of the American economy for the duration of his second term, and the president has made clear that he doesn’t want to do anything that could burst that bubble.“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote on Truth Social today, as he made half a dozen posts, each seemingly more frantic than the last. He later compared the concerns about the technology to his own impeachments,… [TheTopNews] Read More.

One might expect Donald Trump to be concerned about gas prices. Less than two months out from the midterms, gas costs 37 percent more than it did a year ago. Home-heating oil was up 52 percent as of August, and diesel is up a staggering 69 percent. None of those numbers are likely to go down significantly as long as the Iran war drags on. Meanwhile, just last week, a Saudi oil pipeline that carries about 4 percent of the global oil supply shut down after being bombed. (No one has claimed credit for the attack.)But Trump says he isn’t worried. Speaking with reporters last week, he insisted that the U.S., not Iran, is in control of the Strait of Hormuz. “Right after the election,” he said, “oil prices are going to be tumbling downward.”Even if that prediction were based on anything resembling fact, the timing would be too late to do Trump much good. Political scientists tend to agree that gas prices influence voter behavior. Although many voters no doubt understand that the president isn’t usually directly responsible for the price of oil, this time, he is. In fact, the oil shock related to Trump’s war of choice with Iran is the only reason the U.S. has any inflation to speak of. Inflation in all non-energy consumer purchases is at just 2 percent over the past year. If Democrats manage to take back the House and Senate in November, despite an inhospitable electoral map, the Trump effect on gas prices may well be the reason.[Jonathan Chait: Does Trump want Republicans to win the midterms?]Voters hate inflation, and gas prices are especially hard to tune out. Juan Felipe Riaño, an economist who has studied inflation’s political consequences, told me that voters understand that price increases translate into lower real wages. The more they drive, the more pronounced the effect. People who live in rural areas and exurbs have the most to lose, because they have the longest commutes. These are the reddest parts of the country, meaning that they are home to millions of voters whom Democrats are trying to persuade to vote blue. According to a Brookings Institution analysis, the average voter in a Republican-held district drives 26 percent more miles than their counterpart in a Democratic district. Other research has found that those with longer drive times are more likely to hold the president accountable for increases in… [TheTopNews] Read More.

Nearly every day, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles meets with Meghan Bauer, a presidential assistant who coordinates with Cabinet members, to review who’s recently traveled where, who’s heading out into the country, and—perhaps most important—who’s in a swing district at that very moment. The debrief is part of the administration’s unofficial Cabinet Travel Competition, overseen by Bauer, in which the White House encourages Cabinet secretaries to traverse the country to promote President Trump’s agenda and tracks their visits to politically competitive congressional districts or states ahead of the midterm elections.We first found out about the competition when chatting with a Cabinet secretary about an event that person had declined to attend in Manhattan, in part for fear of being docked points in the White House contest for going to a solidly blue area. (Several White House officials said that no one ever loses points, and two added that a trip to New York for a cable-news hit praising the administration’s policies, for instance, would still count toward the contest.)When we talked with Karoline Leavitt late last month, in her final days as White House press secretary, she marveled: “I think we have seven or eight of them out on the road in targeted districts just today.” The formal competition ran from Memorial Day to Labor Day, although secretaries will likely be encouraged to keep going through November. There were rumors of a prize—possibly a dinner with the president for the winning Cabinet secretary, plus their family—but several White House officials insisted that the competition is simply for bragging rights. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal matters.These officials said that contestants are encouraged to travel to key congressional districts or competitive states, appear with members of Congress, and participate in local media interviews. The thinking, in part, is that local press coverage is more valuable than talking with national outlets in Washington, and that Cabinet officials can help drive Trump’s message by highlighting how his actions and policies have improved the lives of voters. Any midterm-related travel must be flagged for White House approval—and everyone is instructed to comply with federal rules that forbid certain forms of partisan politicking. As in previous administrations, taxpayers foot the bill for travel related to the secretaries’ official duties, and the top officials are expected to pay for any personal political travel themselves. Health and Human… [TheTopNews] Read More.

Politicians have no shortage of ideas about how to rein in AI: a 100 percent federal tax rate on data-center incentives, a pause on all development of advanced AI, new standards to block AI agents from going rogue, a halt to the construction of data centers altogether.The flurry of proposals has been impossible to miss, with both Democrats and Republicans proclaiming that something must be done to avert a disaster foretold by AI insiders. Current and former Anthropic researchers have in recent days gone public with warnings that AI could wipe out humanity before the decade ends; the company’s CEO, Dario Amodei, wrote in an essay today that the industry must “slow the pace” at which the technology is being developed. Meanwhile, OpenAI agents escaped a test environment and conspired with one another to breach the servers of the AI giant Hugging Face, an incident that caused alarm both in Silicon Valley and on Capitol Hill. Politicians are also dealing with mounting public opposition to data centers and the fear that robots will soon replace humans across large swaths of the workforce. If this were an alien-invasion movie, now would be the moment when people of all persuasions put aside their differences and band together to save the human race. But that kind of bonhomie feels far out of reach.Instead, technological advances and grassroots sentiment have been moving faster than politicians have been willing to act. Now some seem to be waking up. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican, said last Wednesday that he will soon unveil legislation, alongside Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, intended to head off AI-induced biological or nuclear catastrophes. Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, a Democrat, and Representative Mike Lawler of New York, a Republican, teamed up earlier this month to introduce legislation that would direct the federal government to create standards for securely deploying AI agents and preventing them from going rogue. Several lawmakers have called for Congress to reconvene specifically for the purpose of addressing the threats posed by AI. Yesterday, Representative Ro Khanna, who represents part of Silicon Valley, called for the creation of an AI safety agency.  Others are shifting their position in real time. Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, released a lengthy plan in June for AI development to continue with greater regulation and restrictions. He said Wednesday that… [TheTopNews] Read More.

Photographs by Joseph RushmorePresident Trump began his midterm-convention address last night by casting his spell on the crowd in Dallas. “This place is packed,” he announced from the stage, pointing to the back of the American Airlines Center, where everyone could see hundreds of empty seats. Those who looked up saw thousands more, whole sections without any people at all. But the crowd cheered anyway. A deal had been struck. Reality would be ignored. After more than a decade in politics, Trump is facing his last great electoral test—his popularity is waning, his party is down in the polls, Republicans could lose control in the U.S. House and maybe the Senate. He demanded greater complicity minutes later, seeming to invent a person in the back of the room. “He’s leaving for the bathroom. He’ll be back in two minutes,” he said, pointing. “They’ll take a picture of his seat while he’s gone. And they’ll say Trump did not fill up the arena.” Laughter joined with the cheers for their political wizard. It was working. Trump could say that he had passed “the largest tax cut in the history of our country,” even if that was not the case. He could claim to have won the presidency three times, when he’s actually done so twice. He could describe the recent past as “the most successful two years financially and every other way in the history of the presidency,” despite six in 10 voters saying he had made the economy worse. He could promise to pay every adult U.S. citizen $5,000 if Republicans held both legislative houses, as if that sum did not amount to about 80 percent of the federal discretionary budget. He might even be able to convince the country to embrace the big fantasy, a chance to defy history and seal victory for Republicans in November. “I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” he said. “I’m on the ballot. I’m on the ballot. Just one more time.”Joseph Rushmore for The Atlantic The night was all about Trump. He was the alpha and omega, the focus and the solution. Attendees wore pictures of the president on lanyards around their necks, the ticket for entry to the arena. VIP boxes were stocked with Trump was right about everything hats. Oversize photos of the president lined the hallways. Five hours before he arrived, he received his first standing ovation. A video montage played… [TheTopNews] Read More.