The Texas ‘Trumpapalooza,’ And Will AI ‘Kill Us All’ Within A Decade?
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What is the purpose of the first Republican midterm convention in Texas?
It's been the U.S. wide open, okay? It's been so fluid on both sides.
The U.S. wide open. Hi, everybody, and welcome to Here's the Scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Basugan. Yes, in fact, today on the show, we are in part talking about tennis and we're talking about the U.S. Open because there are four Americans that are left in the U.S. Open so far, which means, by the way, it's been since 2003 that both an American man and American woman took the Grand Slam together. At the time, it was, I believe, Serena Williams and Andre Agassi. It could happen again, but we've got a lot of big matches ahead of us over the next few days. Plus, we're talking about that resignation tweet from an AI researcher at Anthropic. It has now gone viral, I believe over 150 million views in not that much time.
And he is warning that AI could actually kill all humans within the next decade. What, how, and why? We're going to try and get to the bottom of
that.
Up first, though. So Republicans are gathering in Dallas this week for their party's first ever midterm convention. It's not really a convention, though. No votes, no decisions. The GOP is hoping that this is going to help motivate not just their base, but also less engaged voters. And President Trump made sure they were listening when he dropped this announcement in his keynote speech last night.
If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic... tremendous economic success. Like, in history, we've never had anything like what's happening. But because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.
So will this so-called Trumpapalooza with this issuance potentially of $5,000 an ounce, is it going to build momentum for the GOP heading into November? Or is it going to backfire? For this, I want to bring in NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Garrett Hank. Hi, Garrett.
Howdy from Dallas.
I mean, you know, $5,000 handed out to every American, that's great. Who wouldn't love five grand? The question is, can it actually happen if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate? It could cost more than it seems a trillion dollars if they were to do this. Are people on board with this? Are Republican lawmakers on board with this? Like, could the president actually issue these checks?
It has been a fascinating litmus test to see how the party of fiscal responsibility has responded to what is essentially a $5,000 taxpayer giveaway offer by the president without having consulted Congress, whose job it is to spend America's money. We have seen in the hours since that comment from the president, some Republicans come out and say, yep, this great idea. We're happy to do it. We'll cast the votes for that. And some conservatives saying, wait a minute, what are we talking about here? This is the exact kind of sort of socialistic redistribution of wealth that we used to complain about. And it is about $1.3 trillion, as the president's described. The budget for the United States government in any given year is only about $1.6 trillion.
I mean, it is an astronomical amount of money. So, That's a long way of answering your question to say this is technically, feasibly, theoretically possible if Republicans have control of both chambers and the will to fight for it. But in sort of the real world where we all live, I think there is an almost zero percent chance of this ever happening.
Is it legal? Because some Democrats are saying this is bribery.
It's hard for me to see how it's illegal exactly. I mean, what the president is saying in his many words is that this is a policy that he and Republicans will pursue. He doesn't say it very artfully. But, you know, it's not different, I don't think, legally from saying, you know, we'll cut your taxes by $5,000 if you send our Republican majorities back, right? Like— In some ways, that's kind of the same thing. It does sort of look and feel and smell like an inducement, especially when you look at the president's history, which is he offers these kinds of things all the time.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the purpose of the first Republican midterm convention in Texas?
0:00–5:14
2
How could President Trump's $5,000 dividend proposal affect the GOP’s 2024 chances?
5:14–9:26
3
What are the arguments for and against the $5,000 giveaway to every adult?
9:26–13:57
4
Why did AI researcher Jacob Coxon resign from Anthropic and warn about extinction?
13:57–19:08
5
What specific AI capabilities are raising fears of a human‑extinction scenario?
19:08–24:10
6
How are U.S. lawmakers responding to AI‑risk warnings and what regulations are proposed?
24:10–27:26
7
Which American players are still in the U.S. Open semifinals and why does it matter?
27:26–30:35
8
Could an American man finally end the 23‑year Grand Slam drought at the U.S. Open?
30:35–30:53
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