Let the Chips Fall Where They May
We return to our previously noted reality about current Trump actions -- how stories about him have gotten so horrible that all you need to see is the headline, and that alone is enough to be aghast. And so we offer a headline from yesterday --
"Nvidia Chief Investigated in Chinese A.I. Spy Plot, as Trump was briefed and took no action."
I could stop right there and move on to other issues. That's pretty terrible all on its own. It has everything -- China, A.I, spying, high-tech chips and Trump inaction. The only thing it may be missing to get even the MAGOP outraged is the Cheesecake Factory. But it's best to continue a bit more, since the horrible story is, of course, even worse. Which is saying a lot.
Chips made by A Nvdia are among the most valuable in the developed of Artificial Intelligence. So incredibly valuable that, as the New York Times wrote, "For years, Washington has worked to deny China the technology needed to match or surpass the United States in the intense global competition for superiority in artificial intelligence."
So, when U.S. intel services discovered that a Chinese intelligence asset was passing to Beijing information directly connected to Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia -- and possibly passing advanced Nvidia A.I. chips -- it caused significant concern even within the White House. So much concern that they briefed Trump a year ago. And Trump's response was to take no action and did nothing to stop it.
The problem goes deeper. As such things tend to do with Trump.
That's because of Trump's close relationship to Jensen Huang. That comes from Nvidia donating over $20 million to Trump’s ballroom fund and pledging to invest $500 billion on manufacturing in the United States. Further, because the sale of Nvidia chips are so strong that they're helping drive the stock market and and any growth the economy has had, Trump has not wanted to cause any disruption in that. But even more, Trump himself has a $12.5 million ownership stake in the company.
And so, for all that, Trump being Trump, he turned a blind eye to a major American security issue.
It's worth adding that whenever Trump has bragged about how his ballroom was costing taxpayers nothing, and that it was being financed entirely by private investment, this is perhaps the perfect example why so many experts said that such financing was actually worse for Americans -- since it provided no oversight and the possibility of corruption. Not to mention, as we now see, a risk to national security.
Then add on top of this that Trump's claim of no taxpayer funding turned out to be wildly untrue, as reports now show at least $600 million of public financing has been targeted. So, cool, it's the worst of both worlds!
The only good news from this for Trump is that there's so much other awful news for him that this story got lost in everything else and hasn't gotten the TV coverage it deserves. Yet.
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