According to Financial Times News, Donald Trump is pushing for a federal AI regulation framework that would prevent all 50 states from creating their own rules, despite facing immediate backlash from prominent Republicans and MAGA supporters. The proposal, which Trump announced support for on Tuesday, would create “one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes” and could even involve withholding federal funds from states that attempt to pass AI laws. This comes just two weeks after Build American AI, a group backed by Andreessen Horowitz and an OpenAI co-founder, formed specifically to fight state-led legislation, with its leader Nathan Leamer visiting the White House hours before Trump’s announcement. The revival of this proposal follows a similar measure that failed spectacularly in the Senate this summer by 99 votes to one after opposition from Republicans, Trump allies like Steve Bannon, and child safety campaigners.
The MAGA backlash is real
Here’s the thing: Trump is facing criticism from some of his closest allies over this. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the plan “an insult to voters,” while Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, urged him to “drop the pre-emption plan now and protect our kids and communities.” Even Senator Josh Hawley, who helped kill the earlier version, basically said “shows what money can do” about the revived proposal. The opposition isn’t just political posturing either – a YouGov survey in June found only 18% of voters supported stopping states from regulating AI.
Big Tech’s fingerprints are everywhere
Look, the timing here is pretty suspicious. Trump’s AI tsar David Sacks has been pushing this agenda hard, and there’s a $100 million fund to help promote pro-AI congressional candidates. Build American AI’s leader literally visited the White House just before Trump’s announcement. Critics like conservative lawyer Mike Davis aren’t holding back, claiming the industry wants a “licence to steal and profit from copyright owners across America.” And let’s be real – when you’ve got venture capital firms and Big Tech lobbyists cheering for something that their own allies are fighting against, you know there’s serious money at play.
The political risks are massive
So why would Trump back something that’s so unpopular within his own base? That’s the billion-dollar question. Michael Toscano of the Institute for Family Studies put it bluntly: “It’s hard to understand how, in any conceivable way, this is beneficial for the Republican party.” He painted a devastating picture of future attack ads featuring AI-related suicides, job losses, and drowned-out communities. With half of Americans already fearing AI will harm relationships according to Pew research, and growing anxiety about AI-generated pornography and chatbot-related tragedies, this could become a serious liability. Yet Trump publicly doubled down on the federal approach despite the clear political dangers.
What happens now?
The industry seems confident they can get this through by including some child safety rules and mental health safeguards to win over Democrats. Build American AI’s Leamer even compared it to their crypto strategy, saying they need “accelerationists and people concerned about protecting consumers to work together.” But given the summer’s 99-1 Senate defeat and the current MAGA revolt, this feels like an uphill battle. The question is whether Trump will stick with his Big Tech donors or listen to the grassroots conservatives who are screaming about protecting kids and communities. Either way, we’re watching a pretty remarkable civil war unfold within the Republican coalition.
