Trump has been sold by the Silicon Valley Tech Bros (starting with Elon Musk) that AI, Artificial Intelligence will transform the American (and world’s) economy in a way that will make everyone deliriously happy. Trump most of all. Trump knows deep down inside he’s in deep trouble not just with voters but MAGA voters on the economy. However Elon and the Tech Bros have led him down the Yellow Brick fake gold road towards the end of the rainbow, seducing him with how ‘AI will make it all better.’ Steve Bannon is calling bullshit on that, and says Trump is walking into a baited trap!
I feel compelled when agreeing with Bannon to say Steve Bannon is one sick, evil dude and I’ll say again one of the most dangerous anarchists that the world has seen. I truly believe HE thinks HE is the one who should be getting all the worship from MAGA Trump has gotten. That HE should be the leader of what had become (but is no more) the worlds leading, even only superpower. Since (he feels) he hasn’t gotten his due, that his ‘greatness’ hasn’t allowed him to reap the accolades and rewards he’s craved his mission since before Trump is to tear it all down. If he can’t have any and every thing he wants then nobody else can have anything at all. In that context I think it’s wise to take anything Bannon says with a grain of salt. More like a big salt-block in a field that horses lick on in fact. Still, Bannon might well be on to something.
Let’s play one of Trump’s favorite games – Don Cornholeone the Godawfulfather. Trump as we know fancies himself a mafia Don and tries to talk and act like one. In this installment (playing on the Mafia practice of nicknames) Steve “Two-Shirts” Bannon warns Trump that the “Musk Regime”, the Tech Bros who’s Capo is Elon Musk have convinced The Don that AI, Artificial Intelligence is his friend. His ‘hitman’ Luca Brasi even, one who will slay his problems with MAGAs upset about the economy. “Two-Shirts” is the retired mentor of Don Cornholeone, warning him AI is actually an assassin the Tech Bro Regime has created to kill Trump with his MAGA base. In other words Bannon is saying Trump has been suckered into a trap that will destroy him.
As Alternet reports ole Two-Shirts might be on the right track and offering some prescient commentary/advice. Bannon might well not be leading this theory but it sure looks like he’s on board with the concept that while AI might provide a ‘sugar high’ as things play out it’s going to cost jobs and MAGAs will get mangled. Since even they have increasingly been losing patience with Trump they are against expansion of AI unless serious protections are put in for workers. However their Trumpty isn’t the least bit inclined to ask for, much less push for said protections.
The linked article cites reporting in Axios that Bannon has been warning Trump working towards a “lightly regulated, fast expansion of AI” is a trap. One that will destroy his presidency. They go on to say Trump’s hitting the gas pedal with AI even as ardent MAGA backers are warning him AI could destroy the very working-class Americans that put him into power.
Well, if you’re reading this odd are you already know Trump NEVER cared about the MAGAs he incited into a politically significant voting bloc. (Politizoom does have some conservative readers who mostly lurk so they might be startled at this) Now he’s not even making an effort to care. Dismissing concerns even from MAGA rank and file voters about affordabilty and calling it a hoax hasn’t gone over well. Add this on top, Trump deepening ‘Bromance’ with the Silicon Valley Tech Bros and the double gut punch to MAGA might indeed cause them to revolt. Bannon certainly thinks so:
Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist and host of “War Room,” “one of the most influential MAGA podcasts,” Axios reports, is furious.
Bannon, they report, “has been privately and publicly lighting up the administration, calling the new tech alliance ‘crony capitalism’ and warning that the ‘technocratic elite’ are building a future threatening the jobs of much of the MAGA base.”
Well, that’s interesting. Bannon doesn’t care about the MAGA base any more than Trump does except for suckering it into voting for Trump who he with justification thinks can mortally wound our government. Create anarchy. He goes on with even blunter language criticizing Trump’s AI policy:
Bannon tells VandeHei and Allen that catering to “arrogant” Big Tech “is a trap for Trump, since such policies will be a loser with his hardcore supporters.”
Bannon notes that these tech execs are widely detested, and not just within MAGA.
“The broligarchs are detested not simply by MAGA but America as a whole — they actually unite the populist left and right,” Bannon says.
The fact is, and Bannon knows Trump better than Trump knows himself is that “The Don” is easy to manipulate. A combination of flattery and grift and folks with the riches to do so can get access and favors. They bite their lip and tell Trump how business savvy and how big a visionary he is. Then they add in some grift – like insider information now and in the future that can be used to make money in the stock market. Oh, and now donations to his biggest (to date) vanity project which is his ballroom where the stately and historic East Wing of the White House once stood.
Bannon knows Trump can’t resist this siren call so he’s sounding the alarm. On this one I think Bannon is right to be taking on Trump. MAGA as I said is unhappy with Trump both on the economy and his promotion of AI. The anger is simmering and could break into a full boil at any time, and with the infighting taking place among the group of people who hope to one day inherit/assume control of MAGA it’s easy to imagine someone not noticing until it’s too late.
That means a fractured MAGA and two or three million (at least) of them not voting or voting third Party. That would be a disaster for the GOP in November but there’s something even more significant which is why Bannon is speaking up. He foresees AI as being the destroyer of MAGA. Think about it. No more MAGA means no more Trump and Trumpism.
One last thought on MAGA and succession. ONLY Trump gets away with being Trump, at least for any length of time in national politics. We’ve seen enough examples of “just like Trump” or even selling “Trumpier than Trump” getting their fifteen minutes but none have lasted. ETTD applies to wannabe Trumps just like everyone else. The main point though is that, at least according to Bannon MAGA could be destroyed and AI will prove to be what destroys it. And Trump.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
President Fatso rather have sex with a computer instead of defending his stupid trophy wife and freak of nature called his son from getting deported back to Slovenia since his hates humans so much and not to mention his still does stupid stuff just like Bonehead Biden!
i agree bannon’s right about ai. i can see it solving small problems and putting a lot of people out of work. the big problems, climate for instance, already have been solved or could be by people but the foljs making money causing the problems don’t want to fix them.
Two shirt?
Do not even ask how many diapers or underwear he needs for.his stream of freeflowing you-know-what.
Trump and his cronies don’t see a threat because they believe they’ve got the power all sewn up, midterms be damned. Any blue wave will, they plan, be dashed against the rocks of armed masked goons at polling places and in the streets of “liberal” cities. So why worry about losing some MAGAt votes, when most of that moronic monolith will vote for Trump in ’26 no matter what? The dire results of AI on bluecollar workers will not be truly felt until way after next year. If Sleazy Steve Bannon’s concerned, maybe it’s because he still hopes that MAGAt will be his ticket to power after Trump has gone.
Bannon should listen to Bernie on AI.