Today’s notice: No one can decide what constitutes being paranoid about AI. Mitch McConnell, back at work. The legal battles against Trump’s political enemies. The national Democratic Party backs more House candidates. And: Christians argue with each other in Washington state.
THE LATEST
Are you too afraid of humanity’s end? Members of Congress scrambled to respond to the wild AI news cycle, which has seen the major corporations building the advanced tech warn that they might have forgotten to carry the seven and inadvertently created a doomsday device — while at the same time moving ahead with plans to raise billions from investors to build more advanced stuff that could also annihilate civilization.
As we told you, betting against short-term congressional action is probably safe. The Washington Sun’s Igor Bobic reported on a day where many lawmakers warned that people were maybe a little too scared and should chill out. Donald Trump led the pack with a post dismissing the fears of AI as a “hoax.” Congressional leaders fell largely in line shortly after. Speaker Mike Johnson cautioned against government regulation as a mere “reflex of legislative bodies” that could stifle innovation and let China lap America in the AI race. (One assumes this is a version of the AI race that ends with humanity not getting turned into batteries à la “The Matrix.”)
Trending
Over in the Senate, Republican leader John Thune said he saw this coming back in 2023 and promised to revise his old AI legislation. But he too called for a “light touch” so as not to get in the way of AI’s aspiring growth.
A plan to thread that needle remained largely out of sight yesterday. “We’ve got to absolutely be certain that we’re not doing something to blow our own legs off. I mean, that would be pretty dumb-bunny stuff to me,” Sen. Jim Justice (R-West Virginia) told The Sun’s Manuela Silva. “But there’s so much being afraid of the dark. I’m not afraid of the dark.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) offered his solution: a law requiring a kill switch on AI models. Such a move could “hopefully calm some of the hysteria,” but he acknowledged there may not be enough active concern in Washington to pass even that. “I don’t know how the White House is going to feel about it,” Kennedy said.
Democrats also haven’t decided how scared they should be. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has introduced a bill to ban AI superintelligence. So far, it has no Democratic co-sponsors.
More: Whistleblower Says DHS’s Hunt for Unlawful Voting May Have Broken State Laws • Thune’s Texas PAC Drops a Whopping $54 Million for Paxton’s Senate Race • Newsom Says He Won’t Challenge Harris if She Runs in 2028 • Democratic Congressional Candidate Defends Resurfaced Explicit Photos
Open tabs:
- Why a lawyer who launched the Christian legal movement believes it’s gone astray (WaPo)
- Inside the US Treasury secretary’s tense relationship with financial media (Semafor)
- Trump nominates Lee Greenwood’s wife to serve as ambassador to Barbados (CBS)
FROM THE COURTS
Mail-in ballot changes halted: Last night the Supreme Court ended Trump’s push to overhaul and restrict mail-in balloting, allowing state election officials to proceed with their original plans for ballot-handling, The Sun’s Adora Brown and Gavin J. Quinton report. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, wrote a concurring opinion in the majority, while conservatives appointed by other presidents, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissented. The ruling has the potential to be a big setback for the White House’s plans to put more federal control over mail-in balloting. Democrats were quick to applaud it. “Trump, you lost another one,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
FROM THE HILL
Return of Mitch McConnell: The elder Republican senator from Kentucky was back at work yesterday after a roughly three-month absence, The Sun’s Reese Gorman reports. “I’m still not quite back to 100%, but I’ve assured Leader Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me,” a post from McConnell on X read.
FROM THE DOJ
Never-ending criminal investigations: There are “multiple ‘viable’ grand jury investigations” into Trump’s political enemies underway, according to the subject of one of the targets. The lawyer for former CIA Director John Brennan says a Trump official admitted to a number of “far-reaching” cases to probe “issues at Mar-a-Lago and beyond,” The Sun’s Jose Pagliery reports. Kenneth Wainstein, Brennan’s attorney, submitted the revelation in a filing asking a federal judge to force the Trump administration to keep all documents related to Brennan’s ongoing prosecution.
And who from Trumpworld is running point? None other than Kurt Olsen, a MAGA loyalist who helped Trump challenge 2020 election results with debunked conspiracy theories.
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Democrats expand their House target list: The DCCC added three new candidates to its Red to Blue spending program this morning, including William Lawrence in Michigan who upset the establishment in the primary and has struggled to distance himself from his far-left past.
NEW ON THE WASHINGTON SUN
Small town Christian divide: The deep political divisions among Americans — and the fears that go with them — pop up in the unlikeliest of places. The Sun’s Ellie Silverman reports from the outwardly homogeneous town of Battle Ground, Washington, where Christians are fracturing over what “Christian nationalism” means and the growing local power of a family and a company with ties to the movement.
More: Trump Scraps Biden-Era Climate Pollution Rules for Power Plants • Judge Blocks Trump Rule Limiting Student Visas to Four Years • Trump Eyes World War II Memorial as Next Makeover Project • Kennedy Center Board Lists 10 Options for Putting Trump’s Name on the Building
NOT US
- Oil Executives Say the Great Fuel Crisis Is Here, by Benoît Morenne and Collin Eaton for The Wall Street Journal
- Crypto campaign cash could come at a cost for Democrats, by Jasper Goodman for Politico
- Are hotels people too? In this Delaware town, local businesses can cast ballots. By Dion Nissenbaum for Votebeat
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr and Andrew Burton.
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