Scoop: 60+ MAGA allies tell Trump to vet AI before release - Axios

Well, well, well — Steve Bannon, of all people, has decided that maybe, just maybe, AI shouldn't be released into the wild without a once-over. A group of over 60 MAGA loyalists, including the man who once promised to 'deconstruct the administrative state,' is now demanding pre-release testing for the most powerful models. The irony is so thick you could cut it with a copy of *The Federalist*. This is the same base that cheered Trump's hands-off approach, which we noted last week was already wobbling. Now they're practically begging for the very regulatory apparatus they spent years dismantling.

One can almost hear the gears grinding in the White House. On one hand, you have a president who proudly signed an executive order removing 'burdensome' AI rules. On the other, his most fervent supporters, led by a man who once ran a website that published conspiracy theories, are saying, 'Actually, maybe we need a bit of vetting.' It's a beautiful specimen of cognitive dissonance, a perfect Rorschach test for the modern GOP: freedom for me, safety for thee. The letter itself — reportedly signed by over 60 names — doesn't specify what 'testing and approval' would look like, which is about as useful as asking the cat to approve the dog's dinner.

What will come of this? Almost certainly nothing immediate — the letter is a suggestion, not a command. But it signals that even the most anti-regulatory corners of the American right are spooked. When Steve Bannon starts sounding like an AI safety advocate, you know the Overton window has shifted. Whether that leads to actual policy or just a few more incendiary podcasts remains to be seen, but at least the comedy is free and the hypocrisy is bipartisan. Let's be honest: if AI ever destroys humanity, it'll be because no one could agree on whether testing was a communist plot or a patriot's duty.