Far-Right Activists Protest Trump's AI Appointee in DC

Behind the scenes, AI policy experts, lawyers, and politcal operatives -- regardless of whether they were pro-preemption or not -- were working their connections in the White House, hoping that someone could persuade Trump that a moratorium -- at least, one that was so swift and aggressive -- would be political suicide. Two people familiar with the dynamics of the White House said that the person most likely to succeed at stopping Trump at signing the EO was Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff who'd successfully imposed a sense of discipline on Trump's political operations, is deeply trusted by Trump, and is famously averse to internal drama. "She's smart," said a Republican operative working on AI policy.

"I think she understands how this could be bad for the president, politically." Recent polling indicates that a vast, bipartisan majority of Americans oppose the idea of a state AI law moratorium. And few demographics are more hostile to the idea than the Republican MAGA base, who have long distrusted Big Tech and view AI as a threat to job security, traditional family values, and the mental health of their children. Backing a moratorium would be disastrous for potential Republican presidential candidates aligned with the MAGA base, such as Vice President J.D.

Recent elections across the country indicate that the Republican Party already finds itself on tenuous footing: last month, New Yorkers soundly elected Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani over the Trump-backed Andrew Cuomo for mayor; meanwhile, Virginians elected Democrat Abigail Spanberger to the House over Republican Winsome Earl-Sears by a landslide.