“Republican senators are warning that the Senate’s bipartisan cryptocurrency regulatory bill is likely to fail next week when the chamber returns,” Semafor reports.
“There’s been little movement on the key Democratic demand, an ethics component governing the president and his family.”
“Democrats want voters to see data centers as giant outposts of megacorporations that enjoy undue tax breaks and ill-begotten monstrosities that suck up precious water and hog electricity,” Politico reports.
“After months of probing and message-testing, Democrats are aligning on a few key thematic attack lines as they figure out how to take advantage of a fast-moving issue riling up voters across the political spectrum.”
“The two themes of costs and corruption have dominated politics during President Donald Trump’s second term, and new party guidance makes that strategy even more explicit.”
“The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, directed police departments last week to stop spending state money on Flock Safety cameras, the license-plate readers that have drawn bipartisan backlash around the country,” the New York Times reports.
“Days later in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration ordered the systems removed from state roads. Mr. DeSantis has described the surveillance technology as ‘out of control.'”
“Both governors are tough-on-crime Republicans with deep backing from law enforcement agencies. Yet their moves underscore how the political winds are shifting against Flock and other plate-reading systems that have been embraced by police departments.”
Financial Times: Republicans revolt against Flock AI surveillance as tech backlash intensifies.
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“President Donald Trump’s fervent support for artificial intelligence data centers has put him at odds with voters who increasingly oppose them and comes despite direct warnings that his stance threatens to deepen Republicans’ peril in the November midterm elections,” Bloomberg reports.
“Over the past few months, political strategists have warned administration officials they were in danger of losing the public opinion war over data centers… Recent polling has shown around seven in 10 Americans don’t want the facilities built near them, and Democratic candidates have sought to outflank their GOP opponents by tying rapid growth in AI infrastructure to voter concerns about the cost of living.”
“Artificial intelligence has subtly entered the machinery of the 2026 midterms, with major-party candidates acknowledging in campaign filings and website fine print that they are using the technology to court voters — despite limits imposed by leading AI companies to protect elections from the technology’s risks,” the Washington Post reports.
“There are plenty of issues Republicans and Democrats disagree on, but increasingly, they’re aligned on this: they want Flock surveillance cameras gone,” NPR reports.
“The widespread backlash against AI-powered license plate readers, which allow police to track people over time, is becoming more of a political issue as the midterm elections approach in races from Florida to Ohio and Wisconsin.”
“Leading AI chatbots provided inaccurate, unclear or outdated replies on 29% of basic questions about elections and voting procedures in tests this year ahead of the midterm elections, according to a new report,” NBC News reports.
“Federal regulators are opening an investigation into whether Tesla’s new steering-wheel-free taxis comply with safety rules a day after the company began offering rides in the vehicles,” Associated Press reports.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was looking into whether Tesla was in full compliance with federal rules in deploying so-called Cybercabs in Austin, Texas, given that the two-seater cars lack steering wheels, mirrors or brake pedals typically required of all vehicles.”
“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced new legislation Thursday calling for a permanent ban on superintelligence alongside a renewed demand for a pause on advanced AI development,” Axios reports.
“Sanders is the first prominent American politician to call for an outright ban on superintelligence as Big Tech companies release increasingly powerful AI models that they themselves admit they may not be able to control.”
“The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services grew to the biggest gap in 16 months in July, as America imported more electronics to feed the country’s artificial intelligence boom,” the New York Times reports.
Reuters: “Across the country, as Democrats ride a wave of local opposition to data centers ahead of the November elections, Republicans are increasingly breaking from U.S. President Donald Trump’s pro-AI agenda.”
“Republican candidates in at least five states – including Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – have recently adopted tougher rhetoric on data centers or proposed restrictions on their development, creating a new fault line within the party.”
“With a slew of polls showing that most Americans oppose the construction in their communities of new data centers to power AI, a growing number of Republicans running in this year’s elections are putting daylight between themselves and President Donald Trump,” Fox News reports.
“Trump, a strong proponent of data center development, took to social media Monday to argue that if communities ‘want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.'”
“But with GOP strategists warning that data centers have become politically radioactive, some Republicans on the midterm ballot are reversing course, which is a stark shift in a party that previously had fully embraced the burgeoning AI industry.”
“Steve Bannon has made a career out of clashing with far-left politicians. But these days, President Trump’s former chief strategist has found a common cause with them: opposition to the AI boom,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The far-right podcast host has joined Democrats in warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence and the need to fight data centers that power AI deployment.”
“Bannon backs a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VtT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who are aligned with the insurgent Democratic socialists, to ban the construction of new data centers.”
“The Trump administration is backing OpenAI in its copyright battle with The New York Times, arguing that using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence models can be protected by fair use,” The Wrap reports.
“Apple has changed the label on Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America,'” Axios reports.
“Apple is the second major digital map provider to make the switch. Google did so over the weekend — at least for those in the United States.”
“Three map apps, three responses so far to President Trump’s order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America amid an escalating trade war with Canada,” the New York Times reports.
“Google changed the lake’s name on its Maps application two days after the Aug. 27 executive order was signed, at least for users in the United States. MapQuest publicly refused to make the update, while Apple has yet to reflect the change or say what it will eventually do.”
The Guardian: MapQuest app reaches No 1 on U.S. Apple list after defying Trump’s Lake Ontario order.
“President Trump warned Monday that communities that don’t embrace data centers will ‘end up being backwards and poor,’ putting himself at odds with most Americans who say they don’t want the facilities that power AI to be built near them,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Trump: “The only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”
“Jimmy Kimmel is currently out on summer break from his late-night talk show on ABC. But the casual fan might be forgiven for thinking the host hasn’t left the building. Social media videos appear to show him commenting on everything from President Trump falling asleep in the middle of a meeting, to the president’s attacks on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed,” NPR reports.
“Fake videos showing Kimmel and other late-night TV talk show hosts are mushrooming on social media. These videos, made using generative AI, are in some ways easier to create than deepfakes of other types of celebrity — and could potentially be more disruptive.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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