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President Donald Trump’s aggressive push to accelerate American artificial intelligence (AI) development is revealing a significant fault line within the Republican coalition, particularly among the “America First” and MAGA movements. While Trump champions AI as a path to U.S. dominance, a growing chorus of populist conservatives voices deep skepticism and alarm, fearing its societal and economic consequences.
The Ideological Chasm: Big Tech Trust vs. Populist Fears
The rift highlights a fundamental tension: many Republican voters and leaders harbor profound mistrust of Big Tech’s influence, yet Trump himself has historically fostered close ties with industry leaders, aligning with their priorities for technological advancement. This clash came into sharp focus following the late July unveiling of Trump’s 28-page AI strategy, a comprehensive plan designed to turbocharge the technology and bolster its necessary power infrastructure.
The backlash was immediate and fierce. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) took to X, expressing concerns that AI could trigger widespread poverty through job displacement and that massive AI data centers might devastate the environment and water supplies. Days later, GOP strategist Steve Bannon echoed these sentiments, ominously comparing the pursuit of AI superintelligence to “summoning the demon.” Since then, conservative think tanks and populist media outlets have consistently fanned worries about federal policies aimed at accelerating AI development.
At the National Conservatism conference in early September, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) further escalated the debate. He criticized the AI revolution as a dangerous lurch towards “transhumanism” – a human-machine future he argued would harm “the working man,” contradict biblical teachings, and empower “a rich and powerful elite.” Hawley’s declaration, “Americanism and the transhumanist revolution cannot coexist,” was met with enthusiastic applause, underscoring the depth of conservative apprehension.
White House Responds: Focus on Dominance and Prosperity
When asked about the conservative concerns, White House spokesperson Liz Huston sidestepped direct acknowledgment of the criticism. Instead, she reaffirmed President Trump’s commitment: “President Trump is committed to maintaining US dominance in AI over China. By fully harnessing the power of AI, we will unleash this productivity for the full benefit of workers while driving down costs for services and goods to make America more affordable.”
Policy Battles: Copyright, Regulations, and Future Legislation
Populist conservatives have already scored a legislative victory, successfully defeating a proposed moratorium in Congress that would have discouraged states from enacting AI regulations for a decade. Numerous GOP senators and attorneys general argued that such a measure would strip states of their authority to rein in Big Tech, showcasing the base’s willingness to push back against Silicon Valley’s influence.
Copyright Law: A New Political Flashpoint
Another area of intense disagreement is copyright law, a traditionally niche topic now front and center due to AI models being trained on vast quantities of copyrighted material. Trump, in introducing his AI plan, seemed to agree with AI companies that copyright laws needed to be loosened. This stance put him directly at odds with figures like Bannon, who has consistently used his “War Room” podcasts to denounce AI companies’ use of copyrighted content as outright “theft.”
Senator Hawley also used the term “theft” in an interview, warning that congressional inaction could lead to “the largest intellectual property theft in American history.” A long-standing critic of Big Tech, Hawley has introduced a bill to prevent AI companies from training on copyrighted material without explicit consent. While acknowledging Trump’s view on the infeasibility of micromanaging individual authors, Hawley advocates for a licensing regime to prevent a “free-for-all.”
Upcoming AI Legislation
The fate of Hawley’s bill remains uncertain, but several other AI-related bills are anticipated this fall. These include Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-Tex.) “sandbox” legislation, which would grant AI companies regulatory waivers for experimental technologies, and Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) bill, designed to protect AI-related whistleblowers from employment discrimination.
Beyond Policy: Deep Societal and Philosophical Concerns
The debate extends beyond economic and legal frameworks, touching on profound societal and philosophical anxieties. Wynton Hall, social media director at Breitbart, noted a burgeoning concern within the MAGA base regarding AI’s impact on humanity, encompassing child safety, mental health, and the growing specter of job losses. The “transhumanism stuff,” he added, is a “real concern for conservatives.”
This concept has even reached Capitol Hill. In a June House Oversight Committee hearing, Representatives Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Anna Luna (R-Fla.), and Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) vehemently opposed the notion of AI supplanting humans. Luna articulated a common sentiment: “AI lacks a few things — one being a soul, and also empathy. And we are not gods or God.” She questioned whether AI-driven technologies would truly prioritize human safety.
Brendan Steinhauser, a GOP strategist and leader of the Alliance for Secure AI, a bipartisan nonprofit advocating for AI guardrails, observed: “The Republican base is just not where the tech accelerationists are.” Drawing parallels to the early Tea Party movement, Steinhauser predicts a political backlash from parents and families over AI’s psychological impact and morally unsettling trends like creating lifelike revivals of deceased individuals or increasingly human-like AI companions.
Mark Beall, a tech-skeptical conservative from the AI Policy Network, echoed these concerns in his widely circulated essay, “A Conservative Approach to AGI” (Artificial General Intelligence). He argues that the industry’s relentless pursuit of superintelligent systems is a reckless attempt to build “self-creating gods,” fundamentally challenging traditional theological understandings of human limitations.
The Enduring Influence of Silicon Valley
Despite these significant conservative reservations, Trump’s AI plans have largely favored acceleration over caution. An anonymous former GOP strategist highlighted a persistent reality: strongly held populist arguments often buckle under the substantial financial and political weight of Silicon Valley. “Traditional conservative theory is a bit of an anachronism nowadays,” the strategist commented, suggesting it often fails to “survive a run-in with the amount of money and the level of influence buying that is now fully socialized as normal.”
The Trillion-Dollar Question: Future Political Fallout
It remains to be seen whether AI will garner the same political traction as other “Big Tech” issues, such as the “free speech” campaigns against de-platforming conservative voices on social media. Hall believes the full political consequences will only be felt later, once the extent and severity of AI-related job losses become undeniably clear. “That’s the big trillion-dollar question,” he concluded, underscoring the immense uncertainty surrounding AI’s long-term societal and political impact.