(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) President Donald Trump drew criticism from his own MAGA camp on Thursday after top tech-industry leaders were wined and dined at the White House.
The task force, which ostensibly met to address the future of artificial intelligence education, included woke billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates flanking the president and First Lady Melania Trump who formally hosted the meeting.
“I predict AI will represent the single largest growth category in our nation during the Trump Administration—and I won’t be surprised if AI becomes known as the greatest engine of progress in the history of the United States of America,” the first lady said in a statement.
She went on to note that with the rapidly developing technology in its Wild West stage at the policymaking level, it presented a risk, as well as an opportunity.
“[A]s leaders and parents we must manage AI’s growth responsibly,” she said. “During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children—empowering, but with watchful guidance. We are living in a moment of wonder, and it is our responsibility to prepare America’s children.”
It was the second meeting of the task force during Trump’s presidency, following an April executive order and the May passage of the bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act in Congress, designed to protect victims of online abuse.
That particularly impacts Zuckerberg—the CEO of Meta, which owns top social-media giants Facebook and Instagram. Both have been criticized in the past for their algorithmic manipulation and exploitation, paving the way to issues including a teen mental-health crisis and widespread sextortion of minors.
Despite his sweet nothings during past testimony and appeals for more regulation, Zuckerberg’s actions have suggested that he prioritizes profit over the well-being of vulnerable users.
A large focus of the summit, which also included top execs from Open AI, Alphabet (Google, YouTube) and Microsoft, was the need to remain competitive with China in the development of more powerful AI technology.
Zuckerberg pledged “at least $600 billion” to the effort over the remaining years of Trump’s presidency.
“All of the companies here are building, just making huge investments in the country in order to build out data centers and infrastructure to power the next wave of innovation,” he told Trump, according to the Los Angeles Times.
That includes the construction of a $50 billion data center in Louisiana.
A hot-mic moment raised questions, however, as to whether Zuckerberg’s pledge may have been disingenuous.
Critics further cautioned that Trump should be wary of Zuckerberg’s sinister motives. Some noted that his idea to use AI-driven chatbots presented the possibility for an eerie, Matrix-like future in which seemingly human interactions online are all fake.
Others—including Trump confidante Laura Loomer, an investigative journalist and MAGA activist—recalled Zuckerberg’s previous role in manipulating the outcome of the 2020 election.
Zuckerberg’s more than $400 million “Zuckerbucks” funneled into nonprofits including the Obama-and Soros-linked Center for Tech and Civic Life effectively took over local election offices and put stipulations on the use of funding, including the widespread promotion of controversial mail-in ballots.
The funds disproportionately targeted blue, urban bastions in red-leaning swing states, allowing Democrats to flip key battlegrounds like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia under dubious circumstances.
Criticism of Gates was even harsher.
“If President Trump is so concerned about getting into Heaven…this is NOT the way,” said Nicole Shanahan, who ran on the independent ticket in 2024 with current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before his endorsement of Trump.
Shanahan—whose ex-husband, Google cofounder Sergey Brin, was among those in attendance—was referencing Trump’s recent remarks on Fox News about his motives for brokering a Ukraine—Russia peace deal as a means of personal salvation.
Her comment came in response to influential conspiracy theorist account @Shadowof Ezra, which noted that Gates—the Microsoft founder who now serves as a tech adviser for the company—seemed more interested in pushing “vaccines and gene editing” instead of AI.
Yet, it was a Trump parody account, Il Donaldo Trumpo, that best encapsulated the wariness surrounding Gates and his designs on world domination with an overdubbed spoof video.
“Well, I just wanted to apologize for every single f**king version of Windows that sucked, which is basically all of them,” Gates appeared to say in the fake clip.
“Also sorry for creating viruses so I could profit from selling you the antivirus software,” it continued, advancing a widely known conspiracy theory about Microsoft’s constant updates. “And on that note, sorry for spreading real viruses by profiting from vaccines and s**t. Also, sorry for sterilizing some people—there’s too many of us, and some of you are not nice. That’s why I’m trying to block out the sun. Anyway, I just came here to ask for a pardon from all the Epstein s**t. Thank you.”
The clip referenced Gates’s recent obsession with vaccinations, which included his lead role in the Event 201 summit preparing for a pandemic crisis just a month before the appearance of COVID-19.
Gates, a well-known globalist and depopulationist, also has been rumored to be using geoengineering and chemtrails to blot out the sun as a way to keep climate change at bay.
His name also appears on documents such as flight logs in connection with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Rumors spread following his divorce from longtime wife Melinda Gates that a much younger woman was involved.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
