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Are You Sure That Jimmy Kimmel Clip Was Real?

August 30, 2026 at 8:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“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.”

Filed Under: Media Buzz, Technology

Greg Abbott Blocks Funding for Flock Cameras

August 29, 2026 at 3:45 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republicans and Democrats once praised Flock Safety as a protection tool for American communities. Now politicians across the political spectrum are turning against the mass-surveillance technology,” the Washington Post reports.

“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) froze state spending this week on the shoebox-size cameras that have proliferated across the nation.”

NOTUS: What the Flock?

Filed Under: State House, Technology

America’s Data Center Revolt Gets Boost From China Bots

August 29, 2026 at 7:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Roughly 200 accounts from a suspected Chinese bot farm have quietly tried to influence Americans to oppose AI data centers on social media,” Axios reports.

“The U.S. and China are racing to build the world’s most advanced AI systems — and it appears Chinese propaganda has infiltrated American circles with the hope of slowing the U.S. down.”

Filed Under: Foreign Affairs, Technology

Fed Debating AI’s Effect On the Economy and Jobs

August 29, 2026 at 6:03 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh promised to bust inflation in his first major speech since his nomination by President Donald Trump, but he also lavished attention on a new focus for the Fed: artificial intelligence,” the Washington Post reports.

Filed Under: Economy, Technology

Trump Boosts Data Centers as GOP Turns Against Them

August 27, 2026 at 5:24 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“As voters in both parties grow anxious about the rapid build-out of data centers, President Donald Trump remains one of the tech industry’s most prominent champions — putting him increasingly at odds with members of his own party,” the Washington Post reports.

”Nowhere is that divergence clearer than in Texas, where Trump travels Thursday to campaign for Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general and Republican Senate candidate.”

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign, Technology

Josh Hawley Launches Probe Into Flock Cameras

August 26, 2026 at 5:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, has launched an investigation into Flock Safety’s national surveillance network and is demanding to know who has access to the personal data of Americans captured on Flock cameras,” NewsNation reports.

Filed Under: Senate, Technology

Ron DeSantis Says Flock Cameras ‘Out of Control’

August 26, 2026 at 2:33 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the use of automated-license plate readers has gotten ‘out of control,’ as debates continue across the country over Flock Safety’s AI-enabled cameras,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said DeSantis: “No one’s been stronger on law enforcement than me—but I don’t want to have this become a surveillance state.”

Filed Under: State House, Technology

Meta Reaches $18 Billion Settlement with 48 States

August 26, 2026 at 9:39 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Meta Platforms agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 48 state attorneys general, bringing an end to a massive federal trial over social media’s harm to teenagers and ushering in a new era of tech companies having legal responsibility for their platforms,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“As part of the settlement agreement, Meta will also make sweeping changes to its services, Facebook and Instagram, including implementing a default two-hour time limit on its apps for users under 18.”

Filed Under: Technology

Republicans Scramble Amid Backlash Against Data Centers

August 26, 2026 at 9:20 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Time: “The backlash is stealthily turning midterm elections across the country into referendums on anxieties about an economy overrun by A.I., and specifically the role of those data centers that appear to be sending both electricity bills and NIMBY-ism spiking.”

“The shift also sets in motion a messy collision between the GOP candidates adjusting to voter sentiment and the parochial whims of their party leader.”

I’ve long suspected the backlash against data centers is less about the technology itself than it is about the billionaires who control it.
Taegan

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign, Republicans, Technology

The Data Center Era That’s Reshaping America

August 25, 2026 at 6:29 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Nothing is driving more new U.S. economic investment or political volatility than data centers,” Axios reports.

“They’re the Great Subplot of 2026, THE topic animating the AI race and elections. Everyone needs to understand the size, scope and sentiment surrounding them.”

”It’s almost impossible to wrap your brain around the scale of the cash dedicated to this buildout — now the biggest capital project in human history.”

Filed Under: Economy, Technology

Trump Media CEO Defends Faster Access to Trump’s Posts

August 24, 2026 at 8:35 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Trump Media interim CEO Kevin McGurn on Monday defended his company offering faster access to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts, and said more customers have signed up for the pricey and controversial service,” CNBC reports.

Said McGurn: “We’re getting into the mid-teens now, and we’re climbing.”

Filed Under: Technology, Trump Legacy

Trump Defends Data Centers

August 23, 2026 at 7:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump defended the expansion of data centers in an interview with his former fixer, Michael Cohen, that aired in full on Sunday,” Axios reports.

Said Trump: “They’re making their own power plants. They’re building the most beautiful, you’ve never seen power plants like this.”

He added: “Communities that don’t take a data center, they’re making a mistake.”

Filed Under: Technology, White House

Most Republicans Now Talk Negatively About Data Centers

August 23, 2026 at 10:59 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “In the past six months, Republicans’ public statements about data centers have turned sharply negative, according to a Washington Post analysis of thousands of social media posts and newsletters from hundreds of politicians from both major parties since April 2024.”

“That shift follows a similar one made by Democrats, who have mostly focused on the negative effects of data centers since early last year.”

Filed Under: Democrats, Republicans, Technology

Flock Cameras Are the Hot New Target for Candidates

August 23, 2026 at 8:04 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Flock cameras are joining data centers as a top midterm boogeyman, with members of Congress and congressional candidates trying to harness a sudden groundswell of grassroots anger over the AI surveillance tool,” Axios reports.

“Why it matters: This blowup over the country’s massive network of license plate readers illustrates how rapidly AI has morphed from a peripheral issue in national politics toward the center of the midterm campaign.”

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign, Technology

Iranian Hackers Shut Down UK Power Plant

August 23, 2026 at 7:59 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Iran shut down a British power plant for four days in an unprecedented cyber attack,” The Telegraph reports.

“It is thought to be the first time that hackers affiliated to the Iranian regime have succeeded in closing down such a facility in the UK, and is believed to be the most successful cyber attack of its kind.”

Filed Under: Foreign Affairs, National Security, Technology

The Data Center Backlash Bursts Into the Midterms

August 23, 2026 at 5:20 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The fight over data centers is suddenly at the epicenter of the midterm elections,” the New York Times reports.

“One new ad in Texas begins with someone typing into a chatbot, ‘Why is my electric bill going up?’ Another in Ohio blames one of the state’s Republican senators for a proliferation of data centers, calling them ‘a total scam.’ And in top House battlegrounds in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the Democratic challengers are all running ads against the server warehouses powering the artificial intelligence boom.”

“Data centers have become unlikely fault-lines in the broader fight over an A.I. revolution that is remaking the global economy and threatening to disrupt the job market. Now politicians are racing to tap into the backlash — or inoculate themselves — as political strategists in both parties described the issue as an unusually fast-moving force that is already reshaping races for the House, the Senate and governor’s mansions.”

NewsNation: Tech industry “screwed up” communication about data centers.

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign, Technology

Governors Reverse Course On Data Centers

August 21, 2026 at 11:43 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“State governors, including Greg Abbott and Josh Shapiro, slowing development of the facilities as anger over AI spreads,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Whip Count

What's the biggest factor in voter anger towards data centers?

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Filed Under: Technology

Quote of the Day

August 21, 2026 at 7:25 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If any politician wants to get mothers on their side, they should adopt this issue. It’s such an obvious electoral winner. And what I’ve learned is there is no force in the universe stronger than mothers trying to protect their kids.”

— Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, quoted by Politico, on the threats posed by social media and artificial intelligence. 

Filed Under: Technology

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About Political Wire

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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