So, we’ve all been talking about Trump signing the Epstein files bill. He announced it on Truth Social with a 390-word post painting Epstein as a lifelong Democrat and promising the release would reveal connections to Democrats. Survivors of Epsteins abuse cheered in the gallery. Trump called the files a hoax designed to distract from his administrations accomplishments, then signed the bill anyway and used it to target his political enemies.
Okay – so if youve had your head in the sand – now you’re caught up – but wait until you hear thisWhile everyone was watching that show, the Trump administration was drafting an executive order instructing the Justice Department to sue states that pass laws regulating artificial intelligence.
The draft order, reported by The Washington Post, NBC News, Reuters, and others on the same day Trump signed the Epstein bill, would direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to establish an AI Litigation Task Force whose sole responsibility is challenging state AI laws. The argument would be that these laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce or are preempted by federal regulations. States that don’t comply would lose federal broadband funding. The order would also direct the Federal Trade Commission to issue guidance on how federal law might preempt state AI measures.
Listen. This matters because states have been the only entities actually regulating AI while Congress sits on its hands. Colorado passed comprehensive legislation addressing algorithmic discrimination. Arkansas passed laws protecting children from AI exploitation. California has been working on various AI safety measures. In 2024 alone, at least 45 states introduced AI-related bills addressing everything from deepfakes to automated decision-making to facial recognition.
The Trump administration calls this a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes. Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday that we MUST have one Federal Standard because 50 states is a disaster because you have one woke state, and you have to do all woke. At the US-Saudi Investment Forum on Wednesday, he elaborated: You can’t go through 50 states. You have to get one approval.
Its ABSOLUTELY insane that this week he’s also been talking about why it is SO IMPORTANT for the Department of Education to be closed so that the oversight goes back to the states. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!Anyway.
Heres what this actually means. The administration wants AI companies to innovate without what it calls cumbersome regulation. But there is no federal AI regulation to speak of. Trump repealed Biden’s AI executive order, which had established basic safety requirements like reporting test results for powerful AI systems. The administrations position is essentially that AI companies should make their own rulebook, and states attempting to protect their citizens from algorithmic discrimination, privacy violations, or AI-enabled exploitation should be sued into submission.
The basic formula is simple. States pass laws because people are being harmed and Congress won’t act. The administration then claims only the federal government can regulate interstate commerce. But the administration has no intention of actually regulating. The result is a regulatory vacuum where AI companies can operate without meaningful oversight, which is precisely the point.
Surprisingly, some Republican governors, including Ron DeSantis and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have pushed back hard against attempts to limit state authority on AI. Sanders wrote on X: This summer I led 20 GOP governors to pressure Congress to vote down its 10 year prohibition on state-level AI regulations – protecting Arkansas AI child-exploitation ban and other commonsense safeguards. Now isn’t the time to backtrack.
But Trump has made his alliance with Silicon Valley clear. He hosted tech CEOs at the White House in September. His AI and crypto czar David Sacks is involved in the majority of the work this executive order calls for. The order is in flux, and a White House official told multiple outlets that discussion about potential executive orders is speculation until officially announced. House Republicans are simultaneously trying to slip language into the National Defense Authorization Act that would preempt state AI laws, though that’s considered a longshot.
Legal experts immediately pointed out the obvious problem. The President cannot preempt state laws through an executive order, full stop, said Travis Hall, director for state engagement at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Only Congress has that power. But the order isn’t really about winning in court. Its about creating enough legal uncertainty and financial pressure to stop states from acting while federal regulators do nothing.
While Trump was signing a bill he called a hoax, taking credit for bipartisan work he initially opposed, and promising to weaponize the files against Democrats, his administration was quietly drafting orders to protect tech companies from the only regulations that actually exist. One story is designed for maximum attention. The other is designed to reshape how AI development proceeds with minimal public scrutiny.
The whole setup works because people watch the show. The Epstein files release will dominate headlines for weeks. There will be redactions, investigations into Democrats, fights over what constitutes an active investigation that justifies withholding documents, debates over whether Trump’s own connections get the same scrutiny. Its designed to be loud.
The AI executive order will get some coverage, mostly in tech policy circles. It will face legal challenges that will take months or years to resolve. By the time anyone figures out what happened, the regulatory landscape will have fundamentally changed. States will have backed off. Federal agencies will have established that they have no intention of regulating. AI companies will have the freedom to innovate without cumbersome things like accountability for algorithmic discrimination or privacy violations.
This is how policy gets made while everyones watching something else. The theatrical gesture draws attention. The consequential action happens in the background. By the time you notice, its already done.