Republicans have reached a significant challenge ahead of the 2028 elections — infighting over the party's stance on artificial intelligence — a clash that has put potential presidential hopeful and Vice President JD Vance in the middle of the GOP's ranging ideology on the burgeoning technology.
Among MAGA, it's unclear where the party will land as far as support or disdain for AI and what that could mean for 2028 presidential contenders within the Republican party, according to a Politico Magazine report. Those conflicting attitudes have resulted in questions over what will happen post-President Donald Trump, who has generally opposed any regulation on tech companies and AI technology.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who has generally been an ally of Trump but has broken with the president in the past, has raised his own concerns about the tech industry and could also be a potential presidential hopeful.
“The AI revolution is proceeding on transhumanist lines. It is working against the working man, his liberty and his worth,” Hawley said during a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in September. “It is operating to install a rich and powerful elite. It is undermining our most cherished ideals. And insofar as that keeps on, AI works to undermine America.”
With Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio expected to be potential front-runners to lead the Republican party, following a soft endorsement from Trump in 2025, it's unclear which direction the GOP will take on its views or critiques of the tech industry.
"That’s because AI is poised to strike directly at the contradictions embedded within the new coalition that Trump has built: It will pit the new blue-collar members of the GOP base against the business-aligned sector that Trump has increasingly won over in his second term. It will pit family-values and religious conservatives against the newly emboldened tech wing," Politico reported.
"And it is a policy issue that could prove particularly problematic for the 2028 contenders who are closest to Trump, because the Trump White House is pursuing an agenda on AI that is out of step with what many Trump-aligned voters and influencers want — especially the more populist elements that are increasingly prominent in the GOP’s ranks," according to Politico.
This could create a conflict for Vance, who has aligned his policies with the Trump administration.
"Vance is handcuffed because he can’t say a word," a former Trump administration, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to openly discuss the dynamics among the White House insiders, official told the outlet. “Hawley can spend the next three years railing against AI.”