Breaking News from Pod Save America - Trump SHORT-CIRCUITS After MAJOR Lawsuit Derails War Plans

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

A massive lawsuit hits Trump’s team after AI company Anthropic accuses the administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of unlawful retaliation tied to military AI use and the war with Iran. Alex Wagner is joined by Stephanie Ruhle of  @msnow  to break down the latest. CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR: ZIP RECRUITER - http://ziprecruiter.com/CROOKED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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but crazy things have been happening, my friends, in terms of the Pentagon and private business. On Monday, artificial intelligence company Anthropics through the Trump administration in hopes of reversing what is a blacklisting by the Pentagon this week. This case is bonkers, not just because we're talking about killer robots in the American military, but also because the Trump administration is once again using a heavy hand with private industry and pressuring private industry because it didn't get its way. And I would dare say fucking with private industry in a way that only a true socialist could really love.

So joining me to talk about all of this is my buddy, my friend, my former colleague, a fount of information, the great Stephanie role. Thank you for being here. And your twin today. Yeah. And someone who got the dress code memo, which is we only did. these videos in a light denim. If you come in a dark wash, we don't want to see you.

Correct. Okay, so, Seth, just for people who haven't followed this that carefully, this Anthropic was, I believe, the first AI model that was approved for classified military systems. But the relationship between the military and Anthropic went south because they basically said, okay, Pentagon and Mr. Pompadour, Pete Heggseth, if you want to use our, if you want to use our systems, we've got to establish some guardrails. And those guardrails were no mass surveillance of American citizens at home and no weapons that can choose and attack targets on their

own. This is the CEO of Anthropic Dario Amadeh on CBS News explaining why he thought those protections were necessary. Let's just listen to that real quick. Anyone who's worked with AI models understands that there's a basic unpredictability to them that in a purely technical way we have not solved. And there's an oversight question too. If you have a large army of drones or robots that can operate without any human oversight where there aren't human soldiers to make the decisions about who to target, who to shoot at, that presents concerns. And we need to have a conversation about how that's overseen.

Okay. I mean, that just as a layperson said, that sounds eminently reasonable to me. But what do you, first of all, what do you think of the dynamic here and how unusual is it for private industry to be like, here are some stipulations. about using our technology. So here's my issue, because I don't actually lay all the blame on the Pentagon. I don't say, I don't believe that Anthropic is like the White Knight for Great Justice. I think where the hell is Congress, okay?

AI is going to change every element of the way we work, live, and operate. And Congress has been absolutely absent at creating any. regulation. In fact, the only bill that is in front of Congress right now is the one the president's pushing. And that bill says states are not allowed to regulate. Right? So it's even less regulation. So we're sitting here right now looking at these social media companies like, wow, the genie's out of the bottle. We screwed up. We should have regulated. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We all say that and still Congress does nothing. We watch all of those CEOs testify before Congress. We're like, oh, they're really getting it. And then those CEOs get on their G5s, go home,

And while they're flying home, their lobbyists in D.C. are going out with the chiefs of staff for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. So now here we are with AI. All of these giant tech chiefs have surrounded the president. And I'm not sure the president can do more than spell AI. But he's like, great, AI. And we're not even sure about that. But go ahead. Correct.

I'm all in. And the argument is we're not going to regulate AI because if we do, China will win. Now, I get the AI race is hugely important, and we don't want China to win. But like, the answer isn't, so let's be China, right? China has slave labor, right? China has an autocratic society, essentially. And so we're going to say, well, we just have to do whatever it takes to win the AI race. So in terms of whether it's anthropic or open AI, right, we've heard those CEOs in the past say,

well, we really want to get regulated. We want smart regulation. Well, you and I are about six hours away from these Georgia primaries closing. And you know some of the biggest donors to these primaries? AI companies and crypto companies. And you think they care about who Marjorie Taylor Green's replacement is? No, they want to ensure they've got lawmakers in their pockets that aren't going to regulate their industries. So now the CEO of Anthropic is saying, hold on a second.

Like, they knew that Claude, that's anthropic, was involved in what happened in Venezuela with Maduro. And so they're saying, hold on a second. We need to put some guardrails in place so we understand exactly what's right and what's wrong. And the Pentagon's argument is, F off, dude, you wanted to be in business with the Department of War, as they like to call it. If you wanted to be in business with the Department of War, which Anthropic definitely did, buyer beware. Now our systems are completely integrated with yours. We're not going to say to you, yes, at the 11th hour before we hit the go button, we're going to call the help desk and say, Dario, are you okay with this?

Okay, wait, wait, wait. That's the Pentagon's argument. I'm not saying they're right. Yes. And I hear you on that. I hear you on that being the sort of broad stroke of their argument, but in the aftermath, it feels like insanely punitive. Like it's not just like, screw you, Dario. We're not going to call you at the 11th hour before we send a tomahawk missile to a girl's school.

Yes. Just pause on that first second. And I'm not defending the Pentagon, but I'm saying Emil Michael, who's the number two under Pete Haguestaff, by the way, has not testified before Congress. Instead, he decided to explain how AI is being used in war on the all-in podcast with a bunch of his former dear friends, colleagues, on the friendliest platform you could go on. That's where Emil Michael chose to lay this out. Not before Congress, where I'm like, I really think Congress, these are the men and women who need to hear from this.

So the Pentagon has said, this is why we can't do business together. But them turning around and blacklisting, anthropic, is crazy. And this is where you're like, I'm sorry. I thought this was the free markets, pro-capitalism, don't tread on the administration. And instead, we've got the most interventionist administration when it comes to private business that we've seen in our lifetimes. I totally agree.

And that's kind of what I'd want to drill into a little bit. When we say blacklist, I think more specifically, what is it is being termed supply chain risk. That's a designation that the Pentagon has tried to give to Anthropic. Technically, that's supposed to be a very limited application. But Heggseth has, shall we say, taken it up a notch and says, that no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic. This has been called attempted corporate

murder, Steph, is it? I don't know if I would go so far as to say attempted corporate murder, but I think this could blow up in the Pentagon's face in the way that the president justified his tariffs saying it was a national security risk. I have to do this. I have no choice. Oh, by the way, I'm going to impose tariffs on Brazil because I don't like how you're treating your former president, right? So when it comes to the tariffs, the president went too far, and the Supreme Court said, no, sorry, bad idea, buddy. In a maybe I sound romantic or naive, this could end up being a win for Anthropic because immediately following Anthropic getting blacklisted, we saw an enormous consumer surge. of Americans who said, I'm going to get off chat, GPT,

and sign me up for Claude, buddy. How does this know? Great marketing for that. And I actually think we're starting to see the American people say, hold on. Congress isn't protecting my privacy. The president is clearly, while he says he's pro-business,

the business that the president, and definitely his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik are pro, are putting their business interests first, right? It's Trump business first, America second. And I just think back to the last administration. Every CEO I spoke to talked about Lena Kahn, like she was public enemy number one. Like Lena Kahn, this academic who had no understanding how business worked was standing in the way of progress and growth. And there are some arguments to be made that she took positions that weren't necessarily practical.

But look at what we're seeing now. Yeah. I mean, it is fucking. bonkers. Not just for the companies that the president, that the administration is getting involved with. What about all the other companies in that industry? If you're the company that the president chooses to invest in or chooses to target, that changes the entire other business landscape around you. And it's amazing that more CEOs are not speaking out. And they're not because they live in one of two places. Fear that if they speak up, he'll come for you, which he will.

All Jamie Diamond from JPMorgan did in Davos was say, I don't feel so great about what I'm seeing with ICE. These tariffs may have gone too far. I mean, he said the bare minimum. And immediately Trump said, I'm going to sue you and your company for $5 billion. Right. And that's Jamie Diamond who sits on a fortress of money. So companies below that are like, I'm not going to say anything. And then the more sinister thing is companies all know that the president is transactional, right?

He's your enemy only until you're paying him, right? Think about what the last year and a half has been like. For the president and for Howard Lutnik, every day, a different foreign leader, a different U.S. CEO is coming into the White House. They're probably paying a lobbyist who's a homeboy of the administration to get them a meeting with Lutnik, and then they're saying, what can we possibly do to hook us up so we can get an exemption and not get a tariff? So you also have businesses looking at this administration saying, what do I have to give you?

Gold coins, a statue, a golden iPhone, frankincense, mirth. And they know that the president is completely transactional. And that is going to have lasting impacts on our democracy. Yeah, I mean, or just like a fake Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe that's the thing he wants. Podsave America Breaking News is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. What's the latest trend in hiring? It's skill-based hiring, which emphasizes capabilities over.

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We want a piece of this guy. We want your CEO to leave because we think he's such a pathetic loser. And then a week later, well, maybe he's our homeboy. We're going to take a stake in the company. I mean, it is, like, just put this in context for me because you mentioned the words, we haven't seen an, not intervention. I don't even know what the right term is because intervention is. It's like almost too nice, though, right?

Like this is a party and a president who have been like evangelists for the free market, right? Except when it comes to actually running the country. And he has his fingers in all the corporate pudding. That's such a disgusting visual. I'm sorry I gave it to you. There are CEOs that would say to you, I'll take it. It's a transaction president. Yes.

And here's why. And I'm not defending it, but I can tell you that I talk to them. So there are definitely CEOs that feel like in the Biden administration there was no one to talk to. They would say there was no one to call. There wasn't a person. They, they would say, and again, I'm not defending it. But I, yeah, yeah, no, there's a donation hotline, I'm sure that they can call nowadays. This, this White House is open for business. The problem with this White House being open for business, it's business for them first. It's, it's corrupt. Let me give you this example. Let me give you this example. One of the main industries that grew the most last year,

was the gambling industry. Okay? The two big predictive markets companies are Kalshi and Polly Market. Donald Trump Jr. is an advisor to both companies. Okay? That's like me sitting on the board of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Coke and Pepsi. I'm sorry, that doesn't happen. So now you have these predictive markets where, by the way, Alex, LeBron James is not allowed to bet on the outcome of his game, but a Super Bowl halftime show dancer is allowed to bet on the length and style and details of a dance they're about to perform in on Sunday night. There is no regulation. I mean, there's now so much reporting on the amount of accounts betting on this war. Yeah. With all of us saying, who knew what, when? It's highly unethical and inappropriate. But here's the big problem, girl. It's currently legal.

I was just going to say, Donald Trump's pocketbook is tied to it. Donald Trump Jr.'s pocketbook is tied to the success of these secondary, these betting markets. Donald Trump Jr. is now a deep investor in the drone space, right? And the president signed an executive order less than a month ago. We're not going to buy drones from China anymore. Who does that benefit? The company that Donald Trump Jr. is now deeply involved with. I can remember during the Biden administration, specifically two different CEOs saying to me, there's no one in this White House for me to talk to, right? There's not a person that, that this president, One CEO said to me, you can tell a president's priorities based on his schedule. And look at

President Biden's schedule. He doesn't carve out time to talk to CEOs. And you could say, what does that even do? Just have their ego stroke that they want to hear themselves speak? Yes, I'm sure that's the case, but that is part of the psyche. And they know that now, on their phones, they can call Trump himself, they can call Howard Lutnik, they can call Scott Besson, they can call Jared, they can call Steve Whitkoff. And they might not like what they have to do. but they feel like this White House is open for business. The problem with this White House being open for business, it's business that interests them first

and not necessarily the country. And these companies, what do they want? They want to plow through any regulation and do whatever they want. Yes, and I would just dare say, the White House isn't a business. It's not supposed to be open for business. It's supposed to be,

he's supposed to be shepherding the country with the interests of the American public And the AI saga that we're in the middle of right now is such a great example. It's like a bit, the private industry is the one saying, hey, we need some guardrails to protect the American people. And Trump's saying, fuck you. We're not going through you. We're not going through you in your guardrails.

We're not even going to go for safety cones. We're going to fuck you over because you're trying to say no to us. And in the meantime, we're going to go to your competitor, open AI, run by Sam Altman, and we're going to do whatever the fuck we want to do. I mean, that is not how this is supposed to work. You're touching on a really important thing that I think tons of CEOs say throughout history, our government needs to run like a business. Our government is not, business is designed to optimize profitability, okay, to get your customers to pay the most amount of money they're willing to pay,

to pay your employees the least amount you're able to pay them, and to keep your shareholders happy. Those are the priorities for a public-facing CEO. The government, should be creating a framework to ensure that people are physically safe, socially free, and financially secure. And when I say financially secure, I don't mean give the American people money. I mean have a banking system where you put your money away and it's safe. So shouldn't we talk about the fact that, oh my gosh, the government doesn't run efficiently. Let's bring in Doge. What did Doge do? Nothing. It costs us more money and lives. And now we're rehiring. Now we're hiring free. It turns out we can't function with just a bunch of guys sleeping in backpacks on the floor.

Steph, I want to, I know you have important things to do shows to host, for example, on major I cable news networks. Well, I really have mahjong at 2 o'clock. Oh, my God. Well, that's actually super important. Just real quick, are you, I mean, Sam Altman's like, we've baked guardrails into our cake. We'll take this, we'll take this contract, Pete Heggseth. Are you bullish or bearish about the fact that now the government's-

Ann Maltman has already kind of walked it back saying like, oh, you know, maybe we were a little sloppy and jumping into that. But it just shows how thirsty he is. I mean, they had a huge resignation over the weekend. A woman wrote an open letter in LinkedIn who resigned from OpenAI over these issues, feeling uncomfortable about these disclosures because the people inside these companies understand what's at risk here. And I think the American people don't because it's so abstract. But AI is going to change every element of the way that we live. And let me be clear.

Every single thing, every prompt that you're typing in to chat GPT or likely clawed, if you don't think that's being surveilled, you're wrong. So you better keep those prompts clean. You better go analog and schedule 2 p.m. Majong tournaments because that's the only safe way to live. Stephanie Rule always 16 steps ahead of the rest of us. Thank you for. All of this wisdom dropped so quickly in the perfect outfit. As usual, you are the best.

Thank you, my friend. Thank you, my sister. Adios. Thank you all for watching this video. Please subscribe to our Runaway Country YouTube channel for even more brilliant thoughts and analysis from our favorite people. You're the best.