Oct 15, 2026 · 31 min · 14 segments
Midterm elections are around the corner, and AI is obviously an issue that’s getting a ton of attention from candidates. There are so many thorny questions around this technology, but what do…
Brian ReedHostCongressman Greg Casar has pretty strong feelings about the very rich.
Well, look, people all over the country are rightly upset that billionaires are screwing everybody over.
And the place that so much of his anger is directed is at the people building artificial intelligence.
AI is going to make it so that it's oligarchy on steroids.
They're gonna try to turn a few billionaires into trillionaires while trying to push for mass unemployment, mass surveillance, and leaving us vulnerable to mass security risks.
Casar is in an interesting spot in his party.
He's a lefty Democrat from Texas, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and someone who has a very pointed message for his colleagues who want to win in the midterms and in twenty twenty-eight.
Democrats should be able to build a coalition of people all across the country, coast to coast, who are deeply concerned about AI making your life worse off.
But we can't afford, as Democrats, to be squishy on the issue.
We can't afford to be paralyzed.
We can't afford to say, "Well, that's some new tech that we don't fully understand." We should clearly be on the side of everyday people who are concerned, yes, about data centers, but also concerned about their jobs, concerned about their safety, concerned about their freedoms.
Be on the side of people and be willing to stand up against the big money in politics that's being used by these AI billionaires to try to intimidate Democrats out of taking a really strong position on these issues.
Today on the show, Congressman Casar makes the case against the current state of AI and makes the case for his Democratic colleagues to follow.
I'm Lizzie O'Leary in for Mary Harris, and you're listening to What Next? Stick around.
Congressman Greg Casar has pretty strong feelings about the very rich.
Well, look, people all over the country are rightly upset that billionaires are screwing everybody over.
And the place that so much of his anger is directed is at the people building artificial intelligence.
AI is going to make it so that it's oligarchy on steroids.
They're gonna try to turn a few billionaires into trillionaires while trying to push for mass unemployment, mass surveillance, and leaving us vulnerable to mass security risks.
Casar is in an interesting spot in his party.
He's a lefty Democrat from Texas, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and someone who has a very pointed message for his colleagues who want to win in the midterms and in twenty twenty-eight.
Democrats should be able to build a coalition of people all across the country, coast to coast, who are deeply concerned about AI making your life worse off.
But we can't afford, as Democrats, to be squishy on the issue.
We can't afford to be paralyzed.
We can't afford to say, "Well, that's some new tech that we don't fully understand." We should clearly be on the side of everyday people who are concerned, yes, about data centers, but also concerned about their jobs, concerned about their safety, concerned about their freedoms.
Be on the side of people and be willing to stand up against the big money in politics that's being used by these AI billionaires to try to intimidate Democrats out of taking a really strong position on these issues.
Today on the show, Congressman Casar makes the case against the current state of AI and makes the case for his Democratic colleagues to follow.
I'm Lizzie O'Leary in for Mary Harris, and you're listening to What Next? Stick around.
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