Axios: The “All-In” -ization of Trump

Posted on September 23, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

Axios AM
By Mike Allen · Sep 23, 2026
🐫 Happy Wednesday! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,499 words … 5½ mins. Thanks to Noah Bressner for orchestrating. Edited by Bill Kole.
🏛️ Driving the day: In a court filing ahead of an emergency hearing today, the Trump administration defends expelling CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, arguing that the government has a compelling interest in awarding press passes “to journalists satisfying minimum standards.

“In a joint statement, the three outlets said they were suing “to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.” NYT gift link.
 
 
1 big thing: The “All-In”-ization of Trump
 
Illustration of a MAGA hat with binary code and headphones
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
 
President Trump’s accelerationist AI doctrine increasingly bears the stamp of the “All-In” podcasters, whose tech-investor network now feeds ideas and talent directly into the White House, Axios’ Zachary Basu writes.

Why it matters: An unlikely marriage of convenience between MAGA and Silicon Valley has proved remarkably durable, deepening as Trump sheds support elsewhere and stakes more of his legacy on dominating the AI race.

The big picture: “All-In,” now including lucrative events and luxe tequila, is a smash hit that grew out of four hyperconnected tech entrepreneurs kibitzing on air during COVID, when they could no longer gather for their weekly poker game. The co-hosts, who call themselves “The Besties,” are Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg.

None of them has done more to bridge the two worlds than David Sacks, who spent Trump’s first year as his AI czar and remains a powerful outside adviser with direct access to the president.

Sacks helped build Trump’s original AI agenda around a simple premise: Move fast, sweep away regulatory barriers and treat China — not catastrophic risk — as the overriding threat.

🔭 Zoom out: Sacks left the White House but not Trump’s inner circle, shaping AI policy as co-chair of the Trump-created President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The broader “All-In” network is embedding itself deeper across Trumpworld:

David Friedberg also serves on the science council, alongside investor Marc Andreessen, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders.

Chamath Palihapitiya, another co-host and prominent Trump booster, is among the names being floated for the new AI czar job Trump announced last weekend.

The intrigue: The show routinely defends Trump. Jason Calacanis, the moderator, is the political outlier — frequently criticizing Trump on Iran and inflation, while otherwise aligning with his co-hosts on the revolutionary nature of AI.President Trump speaks at the UN General Assembly in Manhattan yesterday. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

👓 Between the lines: Few platforms better capture the zeitgeist of AI accelerationism than “All-In,” where the movement’s leading investors, executives and political allies increasingly converge.

After former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon’s safety warnings exploded across Washington, the hosts devoted much of their next episode to portraying the backlash as an orchestrated “doomer” campaign.

Three days later, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang paused his live “All-In” Summit interview to take a call from Trump, who drew a raucous reception as he dismissed AI catastrophe fears as a “hoax.”

👀 What to watch: “All-In” and the accelerationist wing of Silicon Valley are tying themselves unusually tightly to one president and one governing philosophy.

Sacks has blessed a $100 million-plus midterm operation built to advance Trump’s AI agenda and punish candidates who favor tougher regulation.

Inside AI labs, that political fusion is feeding a deeper fear: that warnings about catastrophic risk will become coded as anti-Trump politics, turning AI safety into yet another partisan litmus test.Share this story.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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