Part of the Trumpist electorate criticizes the American president for granting tech giants a free pass while AI destroys jobs. His decision to postpone a decree indefinitely could further fracture his camp.
The Maga world is wavering again. After the Epstein affair, where Donald Trump’s base criticized him for not making public all of the documents in the possession of the White House, and Iran, which saw the Republican coalition tear itself apart in the face of the resumption of “eternal wars”, it is now on artificial intelligence (AI) that the Maga camp divides.
Friday May 15, a group of around sixty people introducing themselves as “ leaders convinced of the “America First†principle » including Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former strategist in 2016, sent an open letter to the Republican president asking for a decree aimed at controlling cutting-edge intelligence models. potentially dangerous » before they are placed on the market. In this same letter, the signatories are concerned about AI systems “ more and more powerful » and businesses « indulging in a frantic race with little responsibility ».
A speech that runs counter to the historic position of Donald Trump, who considers AI as an instrument of economic and geopolitical power for the United States, particularly in its competition with China. A doctrine shaped by his close entourage, made up of the bosses of tech giants like Elon Musk, who massively financed his campaign, or even Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel.
A decree shelved despite the fear of “Mythos”
However, the pro-regulations almost won. The reason: the future Claude “Mythos” model, which would be capable of finding security vulnerabilities in software on its own – a potential nightmare scenario for cybersecurity – so much so that its creator, Anthropic, has decided to limit its distribution to a restricted circle of companies. An episode which, according to Wall Street Journalparticularly alarmed Vice-President JD Vance. Enough for Donald Trump to agree to put on the table a decree which planned to ask the leaders of the sector (OpenAI, Google Deepmind, Anthropic and xAI, in particular) to submit, on a voluntary basis, their most advanced AI models to a 90-day government review before their release on the market.
But at the last minute, after he had sent the invitations to the signing ceremony, Donald Trump decided this Thursday to postpone this decree indefinitely. “I pushed back because I didn’t like certain aspects. We are in the lead against China, we are ahead of everyone, and I don’t want to do anything that risks compromising this lead. I really thought it could be a hindrance, and I want to make sure it isn’t,” he explained.
A setback due, according to Politico, to last-minute phone calls on Thursday from investor David Sacks, former White House special advisor for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, and from Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg – the latter two denied this on Friday, assuring that they had only spoken to Donald Trump after cancellation It now remains to be seen whether, in the face of growing discontent and the approach of the mid-term elections next November, Donald Trump changes his mind.
“Tech bros” versus traditional conservatives
How can we explain such a divide within the Maga base? For Mathilde Velliet, doctor in American studies and researcher at the geopolitical and technological center of Ifri, it is not a caricature to split the Trumpist bloc in two on the question of AI. On one side the “tech bros” of Musk and others with clear economic objectives and the more traditional conservative base who call for more governance over AI. HAS” Even if this base is not necessarily anti-AI, some people want more regulations for a whole bunch of reasons “, specifies the researcher.
Indeed, the Maga base opposes, pell-mell, the arrival of foreign talents in American AI companies for reasons of identity, revolts against the increase in water and electricity bills because of data centers that are very greedy in energies, is still wary of social networks considered “wokist” and fears for his work that a machine could steal. The possibility of undressing women offered by certain AIs such as that of Elon Musk or the cases of teenage suicides after conversations with chatbots have also shocked religious and child protection circles. In the letter addressed to Donald Trump cited above, we can also count around thirty pastors among the sixty signatories.
These turmoil within the Maga movement are not new. Last year, Donald Trump tried to pass a text requiring states not to regulate AI for 10 years. After an outcry from Republicans, including Steve Bannon and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the text was refused. In response, states attempted to create their own regulations. HAS” There has been an explosion of state bills seeking to regulate the construction of data centers and the risks of AI, despite opposition from the federal government », completed Mathilde Velliet.
Balancing game
In addition to Steve Bannon, the headwind against those he calls tech “oligarchs,” and Ron DeSantis, supporters of AI governance among Republicans have more and more important figures. The governor of Florida presented a text to his state’s parliamentarians last February proposing to ban AI that imitates human interactions for minors, without the authorization of their parents. Less known to the general public, Republican senators from Tennessee and Missouri, Marsha Blackburn and Josh Hawley, are increasing their attempts to regulate AI and are establishing themselves as the faces of its governance.
Faced with these grievances which are mounting as the midterms approach, the pro AI camp remains in the majority in Donald Trump’s entourage. In addition to David Sacks, at the origin of the famous 10-year moratorium, we also find Michael Kratsios, scientific advisor to the president, who had challenged “ the global regulation of AI » during the UN international summit in February 2026 on the subject.
If some predict that Donald Trump will shatter his Maga base, nothing is less certain for Mathilde Velliet. HAS” Indeed, certain subjects such as the rise in inflation following the war in Iran suggest tensions among voters. But at the same time, we have seen in recent weeks, when Donald Trump led to the electoral defeat of local protesting voices, that the weight of the president on the Republican party is still very powerful “, nuances the researcher. A balancing act therefore lies ahead for the Republican who can neither do without the votes of his conservative electorate nor without the financial support of the tech giants.
