‘The Flood is the Point’

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts Donald Trump loves a deal, even if, at times, it’s just the idea of a deal.

The president’s trade dispute with Canada continues to drive one of America’s closest allies into a closer relationship with its chief competition.

Although Trump is insisting that “Canada wants to make a deal very badly,” there is very little evidence that’s true, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney—enjoying broad national approval for his combative response to the American leader—looks to strengthen its alliances in Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, AI leaders are publicly calling for a slowdown.

That was the gist of the message delivered by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei this weekend in an essay warning that the technological advances of AI are outpacing the ability to ensure that they are safe.

His concerns were echoed by some of the biggest names in tech—OpenAI leader Sam Altman and Elon Musk.

But the president saw something else in their warnings: “There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” Trump wrote on his social-media site this morning.

This week on Radio Atlantic , my colleagues Ashley Parker and Tom Nichols join me to discuss the president’s trade war with Canada, the Trump-centric Republican midterm convention in Dallas, and whether an aging Congress can regulate AI.

The following is a transcript of the episode: Ashley Parker: To be somewhat fair to Trump, or to anyone, is that this is just fundamentally incredibly complex.

If you’ve ever watched these members of Congress—which is basically a gerontocracy—try to get to the bottom of Snapchat or Instagram or social media with teens, right, it’s like they’re speaking a foreign language, and those are table stakes, right? AI is a million times more complicated than posting a problematic video on YouTube or Instagram.

Adam Harris: This is Radio Atlantic .

I’m Adam Harris.

Congress is back on Capitol Hill for the last time before the midterm elections, and they have a lot to think about—the burgeoning trade war with Canada and warnings from tech CEOs about the dangers of unregulated AI, among other things.

And when those lawmakers return to the campaign trail for the final stretch, the ones in competitive districts may have some company—members of the president’s Cabinet.