Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, some of the past week’s top stories from the intersection of technology and politics.
Thiel takes Antichrist lectures to Tennessee
MAGA-aligned tech oligarch Peter Thiel is bringing his bizarre Antichrist lecture series to Tennessee later this month after hosting similar events at the Vatican and in San Francisco.
As The Tennessean reported:
Details about the lecture series appear sparse and secretive. The event page describes the series as a “closed-door, off-the-record event” hosted by The Pamphleteer, an online news publication in Nashville that bills itself as an alternative to “corporate and progressive” media, and Meriwether Academy, a Nashville-based nonprofit that says its mission is to “grow fraternal networks and educational societies across America” with the ultimate goal of developing boys’ schools in every state offering a classical and outdoor education.
It’s a curious decision for a Big Tech leader to take such talks to Tennessee of all places, given that the state is at the heart of the backlash to artificial intelligence data centers. Vice President JD Vance, a protégé of Thiel’s, has also pushed rhetoric about an Antichrist possibly living among us, an assertion that has come as he has publicly derided liberal Christians.
Read more at The Tennessean.
Crypto bill crashes
Three Republicans joined Democrats in opposition to a bill on cryptocurrency regulation that many in the GOP — and the president, in particular — have sought to pass. Democrats have raised concern about the so-called Clarity Act’s potential to help enrich President Donald Trump, who raked in more than $1 billion from the crypto industry in 2025, and his family.
Read more at The Hill.
Regulatory oversight of AI
At a private fundraiser last week, former President Barack Obama reportedly urged House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic lawmakers to address concerns about rapidly advancing AI technologies if Democrats regain control of the House in November’s midterms. Trump and Republicans have bristled against AI regulation efforts.
“This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous,” Obama reportedly said.
Read more at The New York Times.
Trump touts Flock cameras
Trump effectively gave his blessing to Flock Safety’s license plate readers over the weekend, saying: “I sort of like ’em.” I wrote about how his remarks about the cameras — which have been used by police officers to stalk people — did his party no favors.
Read more at MS NOW.
Trump calls AI concerns a ‘hoax’
Trump’s efforts to block regulations of the AI industry he has personally invested in were in stark relief when he called in to a tech conference and discussed thwarting AI regulation with the CEO of Nvidia — one of the companies in which he has purchased stock while president. Trump called concerns about AI’s impacts on society a “hoax” and backed data centers because “they make people wealthy.”
View Trump’s comments here.
Unlikely bedfellows
The bipartisan backlash to Big Tech was on display Tuesday at The Pro-Human Assembly in Washington, where Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Trump ally Steve Bannon joined other AI skeptics in discussing a human-centered approach to technology.
Read more at CBS News.
Musk threatens filmmaker
Elon Musk is threatening to lob a defamation lawsuit at Alex Gibney, the filmmaker behind a soon-to-be released documentary that reportedly includes unflattering portrayals of the tech mogul. Gibney’s production company, Jigsaw Productions, denied the defamation claims. According to NPR:
Jigsaw Productions said in a statement that its “right to engage in open debate and fact-based examinations of powerful public figures” is protected by the First Amendment, adding that it is “something that should be recognized and defended by all Americans, including the associates of Elon Musk, who has proclaimed himself to be a ‘free speech absolutist.’”
Read more at NPR.
DOJ employee blows the whistle
A Justice Department whistleblower has come forward with allegations of possible lawbreaking by federal officials during Trump’s authoritarian crackdown on voting rights. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was one of the senators to receive the whistleblower report, and he discussed it on Monday’s episode of “The Weeknight” on MS NOW.
Check out his appearance here.
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