Donald Trump’s habit of waving off voters’ concerns has Republican donors fearing that he could doom the midterm elections.
The president’s decision to dismiss fears that AI could wipe out humanity as a “hoax” has led even some of his staunchest allies to question his judgment, according to Politico,
“While AI may not kill us all, it might kill vulnerable Republicans this year,” one donor told the outlet on the condition of anonymity.
Trump’s comments come as the heads of leading AI companies came out in favor of slowing down the advance of generative AI technology after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned the tech could become uncontrollable without sufficient checks and guardrails.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Trump donor Elon Musk backed Amodei, whose call came as anxiety about the technology is on the rise.
Concerns about the impact of AI data centers on local communities and the prospect of total human extinction have fueled anti-AI sentiment.
But Trump responded to the rising anxiety in two dismissive posts on Truth Social on Monday.
“I am the Hoax Buster, and I’m right now breaking another Hoax — That AI is going to take over, consume, and destroy the World, and that Robots will be marching into our Cities, and getting rid of us all! This is even wilder than the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, or the Global Warming Scam,” the first post read.
He then went further, blaming “Radical Left Dumocrats” for the “AI hoax” and said it was “reminiscent of their Global Warming Scam of not so long ago, where everyone was going to die from extreme heat. What happened?”
The comments were not well received by those who want to see the Republicans keep the House and Senate in November.
“He needed to be more empathetic to the issues that were raised, the concerns and anxieties they provoked amongst American people – because you ignore people’s concerns at your political peril,” one GOP donor said.
“If voters feel like you’re not responding to their concerns, they often turn to the other party, and so is there a cumulative effect?”
On Thursday, Palintir’s CEO Alex Karp called for AI to be nationalized in a bid to control the technology, adding more pressure on the president to consider curbing the tech.
The president on Saturday again backed AI, saying he would create an “AI Force” and an “AI Czar” to oversee the technology, but continued to assert that doomsday predictions were a hoax.
For Republicans, Trump’s stance served as a reminder of his previous fumbles on the cost of living crisis.
Since Trump launched his unauthorized war with Iran, the cost of gas has reached record highs and inflation continues to rise. Trump has said that he “loves” inflation, and that concerns about affordability were also a “hoax.”
“Trump’s bombastic bullishness on AI safety is not the problem – voters aren’t focused on AI beyond data centers – it’s the cost of diesel and lack of progress in Iran that leave his approval sub-40 and create a serious drag on Republican candidates in a referendum midterm,” a donor said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
GOP donors told Politico—one of three outlets Trump banned from the White House on Friday—they want Trump to focus on cost of living and listen to voter’s concerns about AI, in the hopes he can begin to win back support from disillusioned voters.
“People are worried about cost, farmers are worried about grain prices, cattle prices. People are worried about, in Michigan, the cross-border trade. And you’re talking about dismissing people’s fears about jobs and their economy. That is not the recipe for reassembling a winning coalition,” a party donor said.
