OPINION:
A whiff of the apocalypse is in the air.
It is similar to that of climate change hysteria, when we were told by Al Gore and Greta Thunberg that we faced an unspeakable fate unless we gave up fossil fuels.
Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, warned six years ago that Earth faced “irreparable damage” in six or seven years. By God’s grace, Americans took it with a grain of salt.
Most people rejected giving up the cheap, reliable energy and free markets that enabled America’s prosperity and lifted billions worldwide out of poverty.
Now, we are being told daily that artificial intelligence will destroy humankind in the next 10 years. The panic was magnified when an Anthropic researcher, Jacob Coxon, resigned and posted to X on Sept. 8 that AI developers were “gambling with our lives.”
The post somehow instantly went viral, with up to 170 million views, and Mr. Coxon got celebrity treatment from the media.
Former President Barack Obama, who knows a thing or two about effective demagoguery, has told Democratic leaders to put opposition to AI and data centers at the center of their campaigns, so expect more scare stories.
Never mind that communist China, which steals our technology and hacks our systems, is helping fund the opposition. China’s state media and Russia’s RT network are churning out propaganda to slow down America’s AI industry, according to two reports by the Bitcoin Policy Institute.
Radical groups in the U.S. have received millions of dollars from Neville Roy Singham, a billionaire communist who lives in Shanghai and is married to CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans.
Mr. Singham is one of the main funders of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which “has been an influential organizer in a national campaign against AI and data centers, including 21 fights across 14 states, that produced moratoria, zoning rejections, and cancelled projects worth billions,” the report said.
It is not all “astroturf.” Who wants a data center in their backyard? The report acknowledges that “much American opposition to data centers is indisputably authentic. But two things can be true at once: 1) There is a foreign influence campaign against American AI; and 2) Americans have genuine concerns about data center buildout that need to be heard.”
We are also being fed a narrative that we have flat-out lost the war with Iran. The subtext, with a sniff of antisemitism, is that Israel put us up to it.
Those Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities that President Trump took out with airstrikes in 2025? Ancient history. Who cares if he denied the bomb to murderous Islamists?
Meanwhile, gas prices are above $4.25 a gallon, with diesel at a record high of more than $6, fueling more fears of inflation.
Americans will eventually benefit from Mr. Trump’s deal with Venezuela to tap into a reserve of 65 billion barrels of oil, and America’s oil production is increasing. Iran’s regime may be on borrowed time, but the news mantra is all bad news, all the time.
In about seven weeks, American voters will decide whether to keep the Trump train rolling or hand control of Congress to the Democrats, who are preparing nonstop investigations to cripple him — again.
Love him or hate him, Mr. Trump, backed by a Republican Congress, has managed to secure America’s borders and deport thousands of illegal immigrants. His administration has taken aim at sex experiments on children and at men competing in women’s sports, forced NATO to fund more of its own defense, reignited America’s manufacturing base and greatly reduced the nation’s crime rate.
A president can do a lot with his pen and phone, as Mr. Obama said, but real change comes from legislation.
Consider the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act and the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The first was a massive pinata for the climate lobby, with a $1.2 trillion price tag over 10 years. The second gave tax breaks to seniors, overtime workers, those who work for tips and those with car loans. It also made the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent.
Democrats are banking on high gas prices, the AI panic, Trump hatred and the media’s cover-up of the party’s embrace of open borders, socialism and Islam.
Mr. Trump would do well to curb his penchant for firing off intemperate texts at the slightest provocation. What was refreshingly candid in 2016 could be a turn-off in 2026.
Republicans must bring down gas prices, remind Americans that the Republican Party is the party of law and order and that the Democrats — who favor abortion up until birth — have gone over the cliffs of perversity.
On Sept. 14, the Republican National Committee posted footage of Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico being asked to name his “favorite drag queen in Texas.” Grinning girlishly, he exclaimed, “Oh gosh, it’s got to be Alyssa Edwards!”
Republicans are using the clip in Texas for the campaign of Senate candidate Ken Paxton. They must ask Democrats everywhere about Mr. Talarico.
Amid the manufactured apocalyptic atmosphere, “normal versus crazy,” plus the prayers and engagement of millions of God-fearing Americans, may just keep Congress under Republican leadership.
• Robert Knight is a columnist for The Washington Times. His website is roberthknight.com.
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