Bannon warns Trump is walking into trap that will 'unite' the left and right against him

One of President Donald Trump's key allies warns that the president's push for a "lightly regulated, fast expansion of AI" is a trap that will destroy his presidency, Axios reports.

"Trump is flooring the gas pedal at the very moment some of his most ardent MAGA backers are warning AI could destroy the working-class Americans who brought him to power," according to Axios reporters Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen.

"The fear is that AI and AI-powered robots will eat vital American jobs before the nation has time to prepare the U.S. workforce for sci-fi-level change," they report.

Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist and host of "War Room," "one of the most influential MAGA podcasts," Axios reports, is furious.

Bannon, they report, "has been privately and publicly lighting up the administration, calling the new tech alliance 'crony capitalism' and warning that the 'technocratic elite' are building a future threatening the jobs of much of the MAGA base."

Bannon tells VandeHei and Allen that catering to "arrogant" Big Tech "is a trap for Trump, since such policies will be a loser with his hardcore supporters."

Bannon notes that these tech execs are widely detested, and not just within MAGA.

"The broligarchs are detested not simply by MAGA but America as a whole — they actually unite the populist left and right," Bannon says.

"The tech bros will be the first to jump ship when the midterm fight turns ugly, as surely it will," he adds.

According to Axios, "the data backs Bannon's fear," because, "while the AI sector is booming, traditional manufacturing is shedding jobs and losing business, weighed down by the administration's aggressive new tariffs — the opposite of what was supposed to happen."

Despite these fears, Republicans have attached themselves to AI too much to separate from it, Axios notes.

"Because Trump is the AI president, and because his views are de facto GOP orthodoxy, Republicans are the AI party, even if some like Bannon or Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) are sounding alarms about high AI risk for kids, jobs and safety," they write.

These alarms don't seem to be reaching Trump, however, they note.

"A leaked executive order that would have made internet grants and other federal funds conditional on limiting AI regulation was put on hold but is back in play," they report. "Such a move would likely face legal battles and anger MAGA types, who view it as a giveaway to the tech industry."

If AI "juices economic growth and new jobs," they report, the Republicans will obviously prosper. However, if Bannon is right, they say, "the benefits come after a few years of pain, it could be politically catastrophic. That's Bannon's big concern."