US reaches 'tipping point' as 'populist fury' turns on Trump: Robert Reich

In the 2026 midterms, Big Tech is experiencing a backlash on both the left and the right. Liberal economist Robert Reich, in a Substack column, notes that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and MAGA Republican Steve Bannon have some common ground in their disdain for AI (artificial intelligence) and data centers. And this heated debate, according to Reich, raises a question that goes way beyond Big Tech itself: "Are we on the cusp of a political realignment against corporate power?"

"Last week," Reich observes in his Substack column, "the unlikely duo of Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon keynoted a Washington conference to demand a stop to AI, its data centers, and the risks AI poses to jobs and even to the human species. Notably, both lambasted the corporate oligarchs behind AI. The most potent force in American politics is anti-establishment fury at a system seen as rigged against average working people. AI has become Exhibit A."

The backlash against those "elites," Reich stresses, is showing no signs of slowing down.

"Until recently, both parties largely avoided criticizing the wealthy corporate elites that funded their campaigns," Reich explains. "In nature as in politics, one does not bite the hands that feed. Trump Republicans have instead aimed populist fury at immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, Black and Latino people, 'communists,' Muslims, so-called 'woke' leaders, 'coastal elites,' 'childless cat ladies,' and other scapegoats. Democrats — with the exceptions of Bernie Sanders, AOC, and a few others — have also avoided criticizing wealthy corporate elites, aiming populist fury at Trump."

Reich continues, "This may be changing. It's becoming obvious to much of America that giant corporations have been raking it in while workers have been taking it on the chin."

AI, according to Reich, "may well be the final tipping point" for Americans who are frustrated with "corporate elites."

"As of mid-2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of the total economy going to workers as wages fell to a record low of 52.9 percent (down from above 65 percent when tracking began in 1947) — leaving the rest to investors, business owners, and corporate profits," Reich writes. "AI is on the way to causing far more inequality — generating billions for its backers while reducing jobs and wages."

Reich adds, "Trump and his regime, meanwhile, have exposed the greed, venality, cupidity, and corruption of America's wealthy corporate elites by allowing them to do anything they want — including energy-guzzling, water-depleting AI data centers — as long as they kiss his assets by funding his PAC, paying for his ballroom, and singing his praises … Because of Trump, Americans are coming to view those wealthy corporate elites as more aligned with Republicans than with Democrats."