Today’s notice: The shifting politics of AI meet the stubborn politics of MAGA. Auditing the White House “Fraud Ledger.” A Democrat gets her dad to tell South Carolina she’s not a socialist. Trump’s going to Ohio. House gavel goss. And: North Carolina Republicans are excited to see the president.
THE LATEST
Third time’s the charm? “Every Democrat senator suddenly races to a microphone to talk about AI after being eerily silent for months and months and months,” Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters in the Rose Garden yesterday afternoon. “So to talk about the timing of this as being nothing but an effort to influence the midterms, I shouldn’t have to say that out loud.”
Call it the soft-sell “Democrat hoax” talking point, which Donald Trump’s administration has tried in vain to make stick a couple times in the second term. The Epstein files issue, which was so popular among Trump’s base that it helped get him reelected, was briefly refashioned as a “Democrat hoax” when it started to spin out of control in Congress. That did not end awesomely for team White House. Recently, Trump tried to cast 2026 affordability politics as a hoax. To see how well that went, one only need look to his subsequent pivot to vaporware $5,000 checks as a campaign closer. Not a very subtle acknowledgement that every voter cares about money this cycle.
Trending
To see how well the strategy might work on the rapidly shifting politics of AI, journey with The Washington Sun’s Manuela Silva across town yesterday at just about the same time Blanche was making his case. The Pro-Human Assembly conference brought together a collection of pro-AI-regulation voices who were very recently dismissed as wearing tinfoil hats when it comes to AI. Now everyone’s interested in their headwear. (For the record, the actual hats popular at the conference said “Pro-Human” on them.)
“Even two months ago I was describing myself as a lone voice on the existential risk of artificial intelligence, and now it’s not lone at all,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Virginia), one speaker at the conference and a co-chair of the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus, told Manuela. “It’s nice.”
The politics on display at the conference were certainly not mainstream Democratic. Or mainstream anything, really. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Trump ally Steve Bannon spoke back to back on stage. “They’re both human, and they both want the future with humans in charge,” explained attendee Max Tegmark, a founder of the Future of Life Institute. Try finding the partisan message in that statement.
The AI issue rallies elements of Trump’s base as much as anyone else’s. “This is nothing new to me,” former Tea Party luminary Amy Kremer told The Sun’s Jasmine Wright on C-SPAN of the sudden turn to AI regulation this month. She’s another of the AI tinfoil-hat wearers suddenly feeling seen: “I think the story is that it’s actually out there in the public and people are talking about it.” She wants Trump to embrace government oversight of AI.
Speaking of base politics, 2028 Democrats are also trying to find a lane. The Sun’s Elena Schneider, Alex Roarty and Jeff Stein report on the scramble among expected candidates to place that tinfoil hat just so. “Until this week, the incentives were to say nothing. If you said something, Big Tech would come in and kill you, and if you said nothing, it was safer,” Democratic strategist Rob Flaherty told The Sun. “The mood went from ‘Don’t make any sudden moves’ to ‘You need to be proactive on AI.’”
More: Trump Administration Approves Sending Powerful Bombs to Israel in $2.8B Weapons Sale • Trump Appeals Judge’s Ruling Blocking His Name From the Kennedy Center • House Votes a Third Time to End the Iran War as Conflict Drags On • Trayon White Trial Hinges on One Question: Bribery or Setup?
Open tabs:
- Pentagon Wants Only the Fittest Troops to Attend Upcoming Hegseth Speech (WSJ)
- Trump Plans Blitz of $138M and Counting to Save Midterm Republicans (NYT)
- DOJ seeks to revive cases against Comey, James a year after dismissals (WaPo)
- Trump and the Fed are on a collision course over interest rates (NBC)
FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
“Fraud Ledger” is a fraud? The White House website lists what the Trump administration calls its successes in its war on fraud in government programs, but it’s riddled with misleading claims, experts tell The Sun’s Natalie Alms. The site includes an agency-by-agency list of fraud detected, prevented and clawed back, although it only offers basic definitions for those claims, including JD Vance’s assertion from the Dallas convention stage that the administration has uncovered nearly $250 billion in fraud using data analytics to find anomalies.
“No idea how this can be legitimate,” said a current senior official from an inspector general’s office.
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
First on The Sun: Democrats go on air in South Carolina Senate race. A seven-figure TV ad buy from Annie Andrews’ campaign starts today with two spots, our Christa Dutton learned. One focuses on the Democratic nominee’s career as a pediatrician and the cost of health care. The other, far more fun one features Andrews’ Republican father telling South Carolinians, “Look, Annie’s not some crazy socialist.”
Scoop: Trump to campaign in Ohio. The president is expected to stump in Ohio in the coming weeks, according to two sources familiar with his plans, our Kadia Goba reports. The visit comes after Fox polling found 51% of Ohio voters are concerned that Republican Sen. Jon Husted is too close to the president.
FROM A POTENTIAL FUTURE
It’s gavel-scrappin’ time for House Democrats. If they win the House majority, Democrats will have a lot of committee chairs to dole out. The campaigning has begun. The Sun’s Oriana González reports on the nascent fight for the House Small Business Committee gavel. Veteran Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-New York), who has been the top member of her party on the committee for a long time, is retiring. Oriana learned that Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-California) is running to replace her, potentially pitting him against Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), who is also considering a run.
A WASHINGTON SUN EVENT
TODAY! — Washington Sun Event Livestream
Join us for the livestream of The American Small Business Summit. Featuring Jamie Dimon (JPMorganChase), Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Michigan), Talisha Bekavac (U.S. Black Chambers, Inc.), Doug Holtz-Eakin (American Action Forum), Karen Kerrigan (Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council), Chinyere Hubbard (DC Chamber of Commerce) and Stevie Baron (JPMorganChase). Moderated by Washington Sun reporters Paul Kane, Jeff Stein and Jenny Gathright.
Tune in for today’s livestream on YouTube.
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NEW ON THE WASHINGTON SUN
Carolina on Trump’s mind. The president travels to North Carolina today for the first time since December. That trip was all about boosting close ally Michael Whatley’s campaign for Senate — and so is this one, The Sun’s Christa Dutton reports. Whatley is lagging in general election fundraising and polls, and his allies hope Trump can light a fire under voters. Kevin Leebrick, a small business owner in North Carolina who isn’t registered with a party but donated to Whatley’s campaign last summer, said he’s “cautiously optimistic that we get [the race] turned around.”
More: House Panel Votes to Hold Epstein Associate Leon Black in Contempt • Texas Argues it Needs DHS’s Overhauled Immigration Database for the Midterms • Beatty Says Trump ‘Threw a Tantrum’ Over Kennedy Center Ruling • Chuck Edwards Claims Ethics Committee Coerced Him During Investigation
NOT US
- Libertarians and Greens are accused of being plants to spoil tight midterm races, by Isaac Arnsdorf, Mariana Alfaro and Erin Cox for The Washington Post
- In Fits and Starts, the Supreme Court Stands Up to Trump, by Adam Liptak for The New York Times
- Trump pollster gives GOP a data center survival guide, by Alex Isenstadt for Axios
- Slotkin, Peters urge fellow Democrats to help El-Sayed, by Burgess Everett for Semafor
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr and Andrew Burton.
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