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Axios
3 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Behind the Curtain: The Great Fusing
America's government and technology giants are fusing into a codependent superstructure in a race to dominate AI and space for the next generation. Why it matters: The merging of Washington and Silicon Valley is driven by necessity — and fierce urgency. The U.S. government needs AI expertise and dominance to beat China to the next big technological and geopolitical shift — but can't pull this off without the help of Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, Nvidia and many others. These companies can't scale AI, and reap trillions in value, without government helping ease the way with more energy, more data, more chips and more precious minerals. These are the essential ingredients of superhuman intelligence. The big picture: Under President Trump, both are getting what they want, as reported by Axios' Zachary Basu: 1. The White House has cultivated a deep relationship with America's AI giants — championing the $500 billion "Stargate" infrastructure initiative led by OpenAI, Oracle, Japan's SoftBank, and the UAE's MGX. Trump was joined by top AI executives — including OpenAI's Sam Altman, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Amazon's Andy Jassy and Palantir's Alex Karp — during his whirlwind tour of the Middle East this month. Trump sought to fuse U.S. tech ambitions with Gulf sovereign wealth, announcing a cascade of deals to bring cutting-edge chips and data centers to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Trump and his tech allies envision a geopolitical alliance to outpace China, flood the globe with American AI, and cement control over the energy and data pipelines of the future. 2. Back at home, the Trump administration is downplaying the risks posed by AI to American workers, and eliminating regulatory obstacles to quicker deployment of AI. Trump signed a series of executive orders last week to hasten the deployment of new nuclear power reactors, with the goal of quadrupling total U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Congress that AI is "the next Manhattan Project" — warning that losing to China is "not an option" and that government must "get out of the way." The House version of Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill," which passed last week, would impose a 10-year ban on any state and local laws that regulate AI. AI companies big and small are winning the U.S. government's most lucrative contracts — especially at the Pentagon, where they're displacing legacy contractors as the beating heart of the military-industrial complex. Between the lines: Lost in the rush to win the AI arms race is any real public discussion of the rising risks. The risk of Middle East nations and companies, empowered with U.S. AI technology, helping their other ally, China, in this arms race. The possibility, if not likelihood, of massive white-collar job losses as companies shift from humans to AI agents. The dangers of the U.S. government becoming so reliant on a small set of companies. The vulnerabilities of private data on U.S. citizens. Zoom in: The Great Fusing has created a new class of middlemen — venture capitalists, founders and influencers who shuttle between Silicon Valley and Washington, shaping policy while still reaping tech's profits. Elon Musk could become the government's main supplier of space rockets, satellites, internet connectivity, robots and other autonomous technologies. And with what he's learned via DOGE, Musk's xAI is well-positioned to package AI products and then sell them back to the U.S. government. David Sacks, Trump's AI and crypto czar, acts as the premier translator between the two worlds — running point on policy, deals, and narrative through his government role, tech network, and popular "All-In" podcast. Marc Andreessen, whose VC firm Andreessen Horowitz has stakes in nearly every major AI startup, has been a chief evangelist of the pro-acceleration, anti-regulation doctrine at the core of Trump's AI agenda. Reality check: The Great Fusing has been led more by Silicon Valley iconoclasts (Musk) than the incumbent stalwarts (including Mark Zuckerberg), who have rushed to align with the emerging gravitational pull. Tech-education nexus: Silicon Valley, facing a new race for AI engineers, cheered during the campaign when Trump floated automatic green cards for foreign students who graduated from U.S. colleges. But so far, tech moguls have been relatively quiet as Trump halted all student visa interviews and tried to ban international matriculation to Harvard. New defense reality: Palantir, Anduril and other advanced defense tech companies have more Pentagon traction than ever, robotics companies are surging and entire industries are being born — including undersea drones and space-based weapons.
Axios
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Trump lashes out against "fake polls" as his approval ratings sink
President Trump, in an early morning Truth Social post Monday, slammed "FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS" that he said should be "investigated for ELECTION FRAUD." The big picture: As Trump nears the first 100 days of implementing his sweeping and often highly controversial agenda, several prominent polls have shown his approval ratings sinking. Beyond his overall job approval score, recent surveys have also demonstrated voters growing increasingly alarmed by his methods, Axios Zachary Basu notes — notably on the signature issues he ran on: the economy and immigration. Driving the news: But the president, naming surveys from ABC/The Washington Post and The "Failing" New York Times, along with the "FoxNews Pollster," called for outlets to be investigated, arguing they're "looking for a negative result." Trump cited "Great Pollster John McLaughlin," of McLaughlin & Associates — a top Trump campaign polling firm. He wrote that they are "Negative Criminals who apologize to their subscribers and readers after I WIN ELECTIONS BIG, much bigger than their polls showed I would win, [lose] a lot of credibility, and then go on cheating and lying for the next cycle, only worse." Trump added that the outlets are "SICK" and "TRULY THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!" In a separate post, he lamented a "COMPROMISED AND CORRUPT" press that "writes BAD STORIES, and CHEATS, BIG, ON POLLS." By the numbers: Trump's overall approval rating was 39% in the recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll of 2,464 U.S. adults, compared with 55% who disapprove of how he's handling his job. In February, 45% approved and 53% disapproved. Per the Washington Post, the rating is lower than it was for any past president at the 100-day mark in their first or second term since Franklin D. Roosevelt's third term. Zoom out: A New York Times/Siena College poll of 913 voters nationwide released last week had the president's approval rating at 42%, which the Times also said was "historically low" for a commander-in-chief at this point in his term. 54% said they disapproved of how Trump is handling his job as president. And according to a recent Fox News survey of 1,104 registered voters, border security was the only issue area polled where the president was not underwater. His overall approval was 44%, which the outlet said is down five points from last month. Flashback: Trump started his second term with higher approval ratings than in 2017. But even then, his initial job approval ratings were weaker than other presidents. Friction point: As Trump pushes through a sweeping agenda that's reordered the federal government at breakneck speed, a number of his policies are raising legal and ethical concerns. As a result, he's been met with a myriad of lawsuits and courts have blocked several moves. Per Times/Siena polling, 54% of registered voters said he'd "gone too far" with his changes to the political and economic system, twice as many as said he'd been "about right."
Axios
09-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Behind the Curtain: In just 80 days ...
President Trump has done more unprecedented, lasting things in 80 days than many presidents do in a four-year term. Why it matters: There are 1,382 days to go in this term. So let's step back and appraise the indisputable acts of power that have changed America in Trump's first two months and three weeks, as synthesized by Axios' Zachary Basu: 1. A new global economy. Trump has declared an all-out war on globalism, detonating every one of America's trading relationships — allies and adversaries alike — by imposing the largest tariffs in nearly a century. Trump's push for a manufacturing renaissance has helped secure at least $1.6 trillion in U.S. investment pledges. But his tariff rollout melted markets globally and dramatically raised the threat of a recession. The renewed trade war with China carries the biggest potential blast radius, with the world's two largest economies engaged in a tit-for-tat escalation that could snarl global supply chains. 2. A new world order. The rules-based system forged after World War II is dead: Trump has withdrawn from multilateral institutions, threatened to expand U.S. territory to Greenland, Gaza and Panama, and alienated America's closest allies. Canada, stewing in nationalist fervor from Trump's tariffs and his "51st state" mockery, has declared our close relationship"over" and is looking to other allies for security and economic cooperation. Europe is in the midst of its own radical transformation, singed and stunned by Trump's tariffs, constant insults, undermining NATO and siding with Russia over Ukraine. Years of U.S. strategy designed to isolate China is up in flames, with Asian allies turning to Beijing for trade refuge and Taiwan fearing it could meet the same fate as Ukraine. 3. A vast expansion of executive power. Trump is testing — and in some cases, obliterating — legal boundaries around presidential authority, including by punishing his political enemies and major law firms caught in the crossfire. Courts are grappling with hundreds of lawsuits challenging Trump's ability to override Congress on spending, immigration and federal employment — and facing intense pressure from his base over "traitorous" rulings. Attorney General Pam Bondi said this weekend on "Fox News Sunday" that since the inauguration, "we've had over 170 lawsuits filed against us. That should be the constitutional crisis right there. Fifty injunctions — they're popping up every single day." Trump has installed loyalists atop the Justice Department and FBI — declaring himself the country's "chief law enforcement officer" — and purged career officials and lawyers viewed as insufficiently MAGA. 4. A shrinking federal government. Elon Musk's DOGE cost-slashing has resulted in mass layoffs and the dismantling of whole agencies, including USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. An estimated 60,000 federal workers have been fired in a broad effort to reduce the size of government, with deeper cuts still coming. Thousands have been reinstated, either through court orders or because officials moved impulsively. Cuts to Social Security's phone services are threatening disruptions for millions of seniors. 5. A sealed border. Illegal border crossings have plummeted to the lowest levels in decades, a testament to Trump's aggressive approach to curbing immigration through any means possible. That includes the unprecedented invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which Trump used to deport hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a notorious mass prison in El Salvador. Trump also has taken aim at legal immigrants, revoking visas for college students involved in pro-Palestinian activism on the grounds that their presence could have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences." In both cases, lack of due process has deeply alarmed immigration activists and civil libertarians — while Trump's broader crackdown has had a chilling effect on foreign travel to the U.S.
Axios
05-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Tariffs bring overnight economic chaos
In one 48-minute speech, President Trump scrambled every American's budget, every U.S. company's balance sheet and every global alliance. Tariffs, a sometimes obscure economic tool, have massive power, especially when enacted this expansively. Why it matters: Think fundamental re-ordering of the economy. Americans are staring down a disruption to their standard of living. Companies are about to find out how bad bad can get. The ripple effects may be felt for years to come. Zoom out: Trump is right that plenty of countries engage in unfair trade practices, and that globalization has hollowed out key parts of America's industrial base, Axios' Zachary Basu reports. But this historic tariff barrage isn't about targeted leverage or negotiated fixes. It's about unwinding decades of perceived injustices through blunt force — even against uninhabited islands and impoverished enclaves, incapable of "victimizing" the U.S. Trump believes the American people share his grievances, and he's willing to radically remake the global economic order, no matter the cost. Reality check: That cost will likely be steep. Trump is inviting American factories to rise up and fill the demand for goods that consumers and companies get from other countries — but factories can't do that overnight, if at all. One big reason the U.S. has trade deficits is that we spent decades becoming a services economy, with the economic might to make our goods more cheaply elsewhere and buy lots of them. In the 1970s, a quarter of Americans worked in manufacturing. Now, less than 10% do. Recruiting and training a manufacturing workforce will take time and money. Case in point: While America has existing infrastructure for some types of manufacturing, like cars, it's not that simple for every product. The U.S. has lost the ability to make some things as its economy has transitioned away from manufacturing. "Things like magnets, which are really critical for batteries and other core electronic technologies. We've really lost the capacity to build in the U.S.," Ben Armstrong at MIT's Industrial Performance Center told Marketplace. Bringing that back takes years, plus big investments from the government and companies. The stakes: That means, at least in the short-term, everything from clothes to coffee to iPhones to wine will likely get more expensive. Companies are expecting to take a hit, and asking themselves whether they can afford to absorb increased costs, or if they have to pass them along to a potentially unwilling consumer. The latest jobs report was solid, but there are plenty of dark economic clouds, and Wall Street says recession odds are rising quickly. What to watch: Whether the Trump administration does anything to offset the pain. Tariffs will bring in some money themselves (the administration says up to $600 billion a year, which would cover about a third of the U.S. budget deficit). There's been speculation he could bail out farmers, as he did during his first term. And Trump still wants to cut taxes — not just extending his 2017 cuts, but new reductions on things like overtime and tips. But Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Friday that bigger-than-expected tariffs will translate into higher inflation and slower economic growth — and that the higher inflation could be persistent, not temporary, Axios' Neil Irwin reports.
