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As of Tuesday, President Donald Trump has committed to signing some sort of executive order that would do something that would give him some federal control over AI regulation. I state this in the vaguest of terms for two reasons: First, there’s still no good constitutional rationale for an executive order to override laws that states pass for themselves, let alone on artificial intelligence, and the version of the executive order that leaked from the White House in November immediately presented an overwhelming amount of legal issues (to say nothing about the David Sacks of it all).
Second, Trump was just as vague about what he hopes to accomplish when he made the announcement — naturally, on Truth Social.
Screenshot: Truth Social
Unfortunately, this presidency is run on tyrannical vibes and Diet Coke, so one can safely assume that while whatever emerges from the White House won’t pass legal scrutiny, Trump sure as hell will push his people to do whatever he wants them to, to do it quickly, and to not question his judgment about it. (Imagine, if you will, that “states’ rights” is “the East Wing of the White House,” and “control over America’s AI policy” is “a ballroom.”)
But the potential political fallout won’t be felt in Washington — at least, not immediately.
This week, I’m talking to Brendan Steinhauser, the CEO and cofounder of the bipartisan Alliance for Secure AI, about whether AI regulations — or the lack thereof — will become a hot-button issue for voters in the upcoming midterm. Steinhauser’s a Republican political strategist based in Austin who’s primarily worked for Texas candidates, managing the campaigns of Reps. Michael McCaul (former) and Dan Crenshaw, as well as Sen. John Cornyn, all of whom were elected. His resume also includes a stint in early-stage Tea Party politics, serving as national director of federal and state campaigns for the grassroots organization FreedomWorks from 2009 to 2012.
Suffice to say, Steinhauser understands red state voters, but found plenty of common cause with Democrats to create the Alliance, launching the nonprofit in July 2025. (Honestly, I am shocked that in the year 2025, a political organization can have leadership and staff who’ve worked for the Biden administration, Senate Democrats, the DCCC, the Texas Republican congressional delegation, and Speaker Mike Johnson’s office. But that’s AI horseshoe theory for you.)
Polling on the issue, he admits, is early: So far, two polls conducted by the conservative Institute for Family Studies in partnership with YouGov have found that voters reject the idea of the federal government overriding state AI regulations. But there’s growing evidence that red state voters are increasingly skeptical of the AI industry, and Steinhauser sat down with me to walk through what he was seeing: religious backlash, social backlash, and, quite unusually, state-governments-against-Washington-Republicans-chasing-a-moratorium backlash.
“I’m someone who’s advised Republicans for 20 years off and on, and worked with them and campaigned for them and dealt in grassroots politics, trying to understand voters and advise candidates on how to think about voters and talk to voters,” he told me during a phone interview. “I just don’t think they’re seeing [things] six months from now.”
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