The MeidasTouch Podcast

Alex Bores Discusses House Race and Threats from AI

25 min
Feb 10, 20262 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

The episode analyzes Trump's declining economic approval ratings and discusses AI's threat to workers and jobs. Guest Alex Bores, a New York State Assembly member running for Congress, details how AI development is being driven by billionaire oligarchs with minimal government oversight, while facing a $10 million super PAC attack for his advocacy.

Insights
  • Trump's economic net approval has collapsed 26 points from his first term, with 52% of Americans now saying his policies made the economy worse versus 40% saying better in 2018
  • AI job displacement is becoming a top-tier voter concern alongside affordability and healthcare, yet remains underreported in mainstream media despite being a bipartisan issue
  • AI companies are using off-balance-sheet financing vehicles (special purpose entities) similar to pre-2008 housing crisis tactics, creating hidden leverage and systemic risk
  • Billionaire AI oligarchs are directly funding political campaigns and super PACs to prevent regulatory oversight, with three mega-donors raising $125M to defeat AI regulation advocates
  • Non-college educated voters, Trump's 2024 base, have swung 23 points against him, now viewing him as underwater by 9 points due to economic messaging and AI job replacement rhetoric
Trends
AI regulation emerging as unexpected bipartisan voter priority outside Trump administration orbitWealth concentration accelerating in AI sector while broader economy stagnates, creating political backlashOff-balance-sheet financing schemes in AI infrastructure mirroring pre-financial crisis opacity and leverageDeep fakes and hyper-targeted misinformation undermining democratic discourse around AI policyState-level AI regulation efforts gaining traction as federal government remains captured by industryHumanoid robotics investment expanding AI job displacement threat beyond white-collar to trades and manual laborSuper PAC spending by tech billionaires reaching unprecedented levels to influence elections and block regulationPrivate AI companies (OpenAI, Anthropic) avoiding public market disclosure requirements and SEC oversightGovernment officials publicly celebrating AI-driven job displacement as productivity gain, alienating workersCongressional candidates with technical AI expertise becoming rare and heavily targeted by industry-backed opposition
Topics
AI Job Displacement and Worker ImpactAI Regulation and Government OversightData Center Energy Consumption and Utility CostsOff-Balance-Sheet Financing in AI InfrastructureSuper PAC Spending and Political InfluenceHumanoid Robotics DevelopmentDeep Fakes and Election MisinformationTrump Economic Approval RatingsNon-College Voter Demographics and Political RealignmentSEC Regulatory Capture and Private Company DisclosureBipartisan AI Policy OpportunitiesWealth Concentration in Tech OligarchyDemocratic Campaign Strategy on AINew York 12th Congressional District RacePalantir and ICE Contract Ethics
Companies
OpenAI
Private AI company making major infrastructure deals; CEO Greg Brockman was Trump's largest mega donor in 2025
Palantir
Data analytics firm where Alex Bores worked; renewed ICE contract that prompted his principled departure in 2019
Anthropic
Private AI company avoiding public market disclosure and SEC oversight like other major AI firms
Oracle
Announced major infrastructure deal with OpenAI as part of AI industry deal flow announcements
MG Motor
Automotive sponsor offering MG4 EV Urban vehicle financing
Microsoft
Sponsor promoting Microsoft 365 Copilot AI assistant for workplace productivity
People
Alex Bores
New York State Assembly member running for NY-12 Congressional District; computer science expert targeting AI regulation
Kevin Hassett
Trump's national economic adviser publicly celebrating AI replacing workers and productivity gains
Donald Trump
Subject of economic approval polling analysis showing 26-point collapse and base erosion among non-college voters
Bernie Sanders
Senator identified as one of few federal officials actively discussing AI threats and regulation
Harry Enten
Political analyst providing polling data on Trump's economic approval collapse and voter sentiment
Ted Lieu
California Democrat and only other sitting congressman with computer science degree besides Bores if elected
Elon Musk
Investing in humanoid robots to replace labor across trades and manual work, not just white-collar jobs
Greg Brockman
OpenAI president and Trump's single largest mega donor in second half of 2025
Quotes
"Trump's regime is out there continuing to talk about how it's going to be a great thing when AI replaces workers."
HostEarly segment
"You're rooting for that. Didn't you say you were going to help manufacturers? Oh, you're just going to help your right wing AI tech bro oligarchs and screw over the workers?"
HostEarly segment
"People are seeing AI in every part of their lives. They're seeing their kids use chatbots. They're seeing their jobs get replaced. They're seeing their utility bills go up because of these data centers."
Alex BoresInterview segment
"I have shown that again and again that I will take the hard path, but the right path. And those are the people that we need in office right now."
Alex BoresInterview closing
"The economy used to be the win beneath Donald Trump's presidency wings. And now it's his Titanic."
Harry EntenPolling analysis segment
Full Transcript
We looked at city cars and quietly disagreed with the formula. Quietly we added more space. Quietly we upgraded the tech. But kept the price honest. The all new MG4 EV Urban. From just £239 a month with 0% APR. MG Motor Financial Services £2300 deposit over 49 months. £7223 optional final payment. Offer end March 26th conditions apply visit mg.co.uk. This is an utter disaster for Donald Trump. He is completely losing his basem. Shock poles out this morning. That's a big SOS warning sign for Donald Trump and MAGA coming up in the midterms. In terms of how American people view the economy under Trump much worse. They say he's making things far worse. And then in terms of a Trump base of people who did not graduate from college. Trump is deeply underwater with that. Now Trump's regime is out there continuing to talk about how it's going to be a great thing when AI replaces workers. And every time they go out there and they have Kevin Haseter, Donald Trump's, that's Donald Trump's national economic adviser, others go out there. They say right now we're getting rid of the workers and AI's replacing them. How amazing is this? That's showing up in the polling data because workers are saying you're having AI replace us. I mean, you're rooting for that. Didn't you say you were going to help manufacturers? Didn't you? Oh, you're just going to help your right wing AI tech bro oligarchs and screw over the workers? Yes, that's what we've been trying to say the Trump regime's plan is from the jump. And as I've been talking to people across this country, let me be clear. One of the most important issues that people have is the fact that AI is taking over people's jobs and these big data centers are destroying community. So let's just go through some of this data right here. First, let me show you Donald Trump's national economic adviser, Kevin Haseter, like bragging that AI is replacing workers. And even though our jobs reports coming out are going to be terrible, that's fine because AI and the right wing tech bros are making more profits right now here play this clip. The open question really is what's going to happen to jobs as productivity goes up? And I think that there's a chance that that jog creation lags productivity skyrocket. It's profit skyrocket, DDP skyrocket. But then all of a sudden, like you were making 20 widgets and you can make 20 widgets with a fewer person. And then that person has to find a new job. I think that that kind of transition could happen. Here's another clip of Haseter saying that, let me show that. Then I'm going to show you what some of this polling data suggests here. Play this clip. The other thing is that there's a pretty big decline in the labor force because illegal leave of the country. And so the break even job number is quite a bit lower than it was under Joe Biden when there were people, you know, basically coming across the border, Willie Nilly. And so I think that you should expect slightly smaller job numbers that are persisted with high GDP growth right now. And the one shouldn't panic if you see a sequence of numbers that are lower than you're used to because again, population growth is going down and productivity growth is skyrocketing. It's an unusual set of circumstances. So here's how Harry Enten describes how the American people feel about the economy right now. Let's play this clip. Staggering, you know, the economy used to be the win beneath Donald Trump's presidency wings. And now it's his Titanic because what are we talking about here? Well, let's just take a look here. Trump's economic net approval won your it in term one. Hey, yeah. Plus the hydro ledger. Plus a points. It was his best issue arguably. But now it's one of his worst. Look at that way, way down in the basement. 18 points below water. What is that John quickly? So math was that a 26 point switcheroo in the wrong direction. This is the type of number that democratic midterm dreams are made of and Republican nightmares are also made of. So by large or voter saying it's Trump's fault. Yeah, this is the key answer, right? Which is why what is driving these numbers? And it is because the folks believe the voters believe it's the Trump administration's fault. Take a look here. OK, the Trump and men has made the economy worse or better. You go back to January of 2018 term number one. The plurality winner there was better at 40% just 22% said worse. Look at this side of the screen. The exact opposite story. What a switcheroo my goodness gracious 52% 52% of Americans say the Trump and men their policies have made the economy worse. And look at that just 28% say better even among the GOP just 57% say they make it better. When you're only getting 57% of the Republican base to agree with the positive position for Donald Trump, you know you are in some massive trouble, which the Trump administration and Trump in particular are on the economy right now. And just a reminder and here's another clip from this morning as well about Donald Trump now completely losing his base among non-college voters. Let's play this clip right here. Yeah, OK, so you know if you know anything about Donald Trump, you know that he built his two presidential victories on winning voters without a college degree. Well, Donald Trump's base with non-college voters is absolutely collapsing. What are we talking about here? Well, why don't we just take a look voters without a college degree on Donald Trump? Look at this back in 2024. He won those voters over Kamala Harris by 14 points. You come over to this side of the screen. What's his net approval rating with him? He is underwater by nine points. That's a 23 point switcheroo with his base of non-college voters. He is absolutely collapsing with a group of voters that help put him into the White House case. Wow, wow, wow. I want to bring in right now an individual who's running for Congress right out of New York, who's made a major part of his platform discussing issues about AI Alex Boris. Let me bring in this interview with Alex Boris. He's a New York State Assembly Member. I did this interview with Alex Boris. New York State Assembly Member Alex Boris. Watch this because his main thing that he's been talking about is AI. Let's play it. Alex, great to see you. Alex Assemblyman Boris is running for New York's 12th Congressional District. It's a very competitive primary right there. One of the things most kind of prominently that you speak about that a lot of people don't talk about, which I think is one of the most important issues is some of the threats that are being posed by AI and data centers. You've made that a major part of your platform after you graduated from Cornell and computer sciences later on at Georgia Tech. Perfect. You worked at Palantir. You saw firsthand and you quit after seeing what they were doing with ice back in 2019. Right now people are making these connections Palantir and ice, but in 2019 you took a principled stand. Now super PACs backed by Palantir and others are coming after you because you're one of the big voices in New York and across the nation now standing up to AI. The threats of AI. You recognize there's utility but standing up to the threats as well. So why don't we start there because it's an issue that when Senator Bernie Sanders and I always talk about we do podcast just on AI. And as he says it's the biggest issue that people are discussing but that's not being discussed in the news. So it's like where I want to start the conversation. Talk to us about why that's a major part of your agenda and why people should focus on it. People are seeing AI in every part of their lives. They're seeing their kids use chatbots. They're seeing their jobs get replaced. They're seeing their utility bills go up because of these data centers. They're seeing all of these impacts and they're asking what is government doing about it. And that's not to say as you mentioned there aren't some benefits to AI but there needs to be reasonable regulation and then they look at DC and with the exception of Bernie Sanders and a few others, maybe they see people either not doing anything or just cheering on the industry and saying let's get out of their way and let them have their will with the American people. And so when you have a few elected officials, a few people running for office that are willing to say, hey, American should have a say in this development of the technology that is both a incredibly popular and be incredibly terrifying to the few AI billionaires who have this extreme view that they should have complete control over. We're going to have a complete control over the American worker and our kids and our climate and our energy bill and that's why they're coming after me so hard. Right and you know there's so many issues that need to be focused on whether and you're talking about them all, you know, whether it's affordable affordability in general but health care, education, housing, I mean you as a New York state assemblyman, you see these issues firsthand across New York. So what are the efforts are being taken now, you know, I think governor Hokel working with Mamdani in my view is a good development when it comes to lowering the cost of child of child care. Talk to us about though why I think all of these other issues are still also going to be impacted by AI and by these data centers because it addresses affordability and you have a lot of these people behind the AI industry hoarding the wealth as well. And refusing to you know allow others to just live with decency. Absolutely. You saw that something like you know 75% 90% of growth during parts of 2025 were just AI the normal economy was struggling and yet you have incredible wealth being concentrated in these AI billionaires who's explicit goal often is just to replace all labor. They say they are trying to build the AI that is smarter than any human and then you have people like Elon Musk who separately is investing in humanoid humanoid robots because people say well white collar work will be replaced but you'll still do the trades. No, they're coming for all of that too. So it'll affect affordability broadly but I think one of the things that people miss is it also affects our ability to have conversations about all of these issues. Use of deep fakes the use of hyper targeted misinformation is making it impossible to have real democracy and real conversations and as if the direct impact of AI weren't enough in that regard. You have the few billionaires who are now spending hundreds of millions of dollars to try to buy our elections so you know three of the big AI oligarchs and three big mega donors to Donald Trump have put together a super pack that. They're saying will raise 125 million dollars and they've dedicated at least 10 million of that just to defeating me. Yeah and it should be noted that your campaign in New York's 12 you could always fact check me if I'm wrong about this but you've raised more money than any other campaign other than the super pack that's raising the money to try to take you out that's the dynamic right exactly right I've nearly double any of the other candidates. There's only two campaign of this 12 person race there's only two campaigns that have raised millions of dollars plural and it is me and the super pack against me the super pack did it from like three donations from large billionaires and I did it from thousands of people coming together all individuals I'm not taking any pack money other than labor unions if they want to get involved but all of that money was raised from individuals who just want a say in how AI develops. One of the things that you point out which really concerned me as I looked at the economy on a macro level is I would see all of these reports about jobs and about income and about inflation and they'd all be very bad. You know, also the increasing the debt that they haven't, you know, the federal spending is way out. Yeah, that's why I saw stats like that. Then I would see, you know, the markets do them really, you know, not really well. I mean, especially over the past few days, but, but it was, but the, but the market's chugging along and also not as good as other countries, which America used to lead the world when it come, but, but anyway, I'm like, I'm still, but then you would see it's like, wait a minute, what's going on here? And it seemed to be number one, hiding the debt in these data center acquisitions to fuel the AI by doing these like lease out agreements so that they wouldn't show debt on the balance sheets. So there was this whole, I don't want to say it's a scam, but it was a scheme, at least we'll say, to hide debt from the balance sheets and just show profits when actually a huge amounts of money, which they called capex expenditures, but it was really debt kind of disguised as something. And then they would do all these deals with each other. And so they would do these press releases oracle does a deal with open AI, open AI does a deal with so and so. And they just kept on cycling the deals, but the, but there wasn't extra money. It was just a deal flow that was being announced. And now here we are in 2026, a sum of women. And a lot of these deals that they promised is like, well, where's that happening? That's it. And it's not happening right now. And it's like, so have you just been lying to us in 2025 and normally, excuse my rant, you would have an SEC that would look into this stuff and say, you can't do this. But there's no SEC anymore because the oligarchs are hanging out with Trump at club moral agor wherever. No SEC and also these, some of these companies can just stay private for so long now that they don't have to do a lot of the public reporting. I mean, open AI and then Thropic and some of the big ones are private. And so some are behaving responsibly, but I'm sure some are not. And the public doesn't really have a way to see their underlying finances. Yeah, I want to be clear that I'm not in the camp that, you know, AI is all fake. I'm actually quite in the opposite camp. I think it is very capable and going to do a lot of things. And that's why government needs to be involved. But even with that said, you're seeing weird financing vehicles that are happening where instead of directly investing in a data center, which would, as you said, show up as debt, they'll have these special purpose vehicles that are somewhat off the balance sheet. And so it doesn't really show on theirs. And it's, it's things that are reminiscent of what we saw with the housing crisis and with 2008 and what happened with the subprime mortgages. So this is a, you know, one of the things where the people in the AI industry are really terrified of any bump in the road. And so if it feels like sometimes you want to have a rational conversation about, hey, you're some benefits of AI, here are some risks, how can we regulate? And you see that especially some of the executives kind of violently react to that even suggestion. Maybe that's because if they have any bump in the road in their growth, they're, they're so leveraged that there's a real challenge of it falling down. And so what you're seeing is behavior where they try to stop the states from taking any action because they're losing at the state level. They go and they try to buy the White House. They literally are paying to have the White House demolished and the, the East Wing Ballroom built. They're putting millions of dollars into Donald Trump's super PAC. In fact, Greg Brockman, the president of open AI in the second half of 2025 was Donald Trump's single largest mega donor. They are spending a lot right now to try to ensure that no one in America gets to have a say in how AI develops except the oligarchs. Why do you think other politicians, even Democrats? I mean, we know Republicans are not. Although some, you may be able to find some bipartisanship when it comes to data centers. So it is an interesting issue. So I don't want to paint a broad bus. No, I'm just saying it's like shockingly bipartisan. Yeah, this one hasn't really been polarized yet. Other than Trump and the people in his immediate orbit, most Republican voters you talk to are also saying, Hey, what is this is moving way too fast and we want to say in this? And that's where the, that's the thing is that the people you tore the country, AI data centers is like a number one to two to three issue because it impacts all these others. Even where most people would be affordability, generally housing, healthcare, AI replacing jobs, you know, is right is right up there. Yet it's not talked about the people talk about it, but it's not making the news. It's not, you know, other than when they announce on CNBC, the deal flow that often is, you know, propaganda. So what, why is there that income grew? I mean, you see that when people like you talk about it, yes, you're under attack by, you know, super PACs, but you galvanized people by making this an important issue, one that you know, but what's why is it other people talk about it? Why are other people afraid of this issue? Well, I think having a $100 million super PAC out there is scary to many people, but you're seeing more and more elected officials step up. I mean, you need, you need two things. You need the willingness to go against this industry to risk your job, to risk your, your career and, and but stand up for the right thing. And second of all, you need the knowledge of how to do it. All right, if I'm elected, I'm going to be the second Democrat ever in Congress with a degree in computer science following Ted Lu from California. You know, need a degree in computer science to engage here, but I think a lot of Democrats are still trying to figure out what our playbook is. And so we've been trying to really push out there. Here's a bunch of threats from AI, whether that's democracy, whether that's the kids, whether it's the workers or climate or, or really catastrophic risks. And here's common sense steps we can take. Once you show people that there's real actions and things that can benefit them, people are galvanized by that. I mean, one of the most common responses I've gotten, even in my roles in Assembly Member, let alone during the Congressional campaign, is people saying, you know, I don't know what we should do about AI, but I am so glad you are there figuring it out. All right, voters are hungry to see real action here. And I think there's a number of steps we could take as Democrats and Republicans today that would start to give Americans more of a say in this technology. Before we go, one, where could people learn more about the campaign? But two, we spent a lot of time talking about AI rightfully so. But it's a crowded primary. What's your message to the people in this crowded primary that you're in that differentiates you from others? In addition to AI that we just spent a lot of time talking about. And what's your message? We have six million subscribers here. You galvanized a national audience. It was a people know you outside of the 12th as well. But what's your message more broadly within the 12th and then to the country? I am fighting to take on the affordability crisis. I am fighting to end corruption in government. And I'm fighting to give Americans a say in AI and tech as it develops. And all of these issues are connected. If we don't have real regulation of some of this AI development, that's going to drive up costs. If we don't stand up to these super PACs that are attacking us, we're going to see more corruption in government. We need to have people who are willing to take it on the chin and stand up for their principles. And I think one of the big differences for me as someone who's running is not just the academic background. It's not just the computer science background, but it's a lifetime of examples of standing up for principle and putting the needs of society first, even when it was hard, even when I was challenged. The unfair situation that we all face right now is that Donald Trump is an authoritarian and he will individually target people who are running for office. And that is not how a democracy supposed to work. That is not the way that you, that what America was founded on. But we do need people that have proof, have a track record of being able to stand up to that heat. And whether it's me taking on this 10 million dollars that's being spent by the super PAC, whether it's me walking away from my time at Palantir as they renewed a contract with ICE, because I wanted to stand on principle. I have shown that again and again that I will take the hard path, but the right path. And those are the people that we need in office right now. So if that's something that resonates with you, or if you're in New York 12, I would say, and you're choosing who to vote for, judge me by my enemies. And if this resonates with you and you want to get involved, you can go to AlexBoris.nyc to sign up to Palantir or just to stay in touch, or maybe even throw a few dollars to help fight the super PAC. And you can follow me on every social media platform at AlexBoris and Boris has spelled B-O-R-E-S. New York State Assemblyman Alex Boris running for New York's 12th Congressional District. Alex, thanks for joining us and thanks for the fight. Thanks for having me. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Wanna stay plugged in? Become a subscriber for our substack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Phil Kowski, add three episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com. The world moves fast. You'll work day, even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data, Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work. Built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use. 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