Episode · Pod Save America · 2026-09-15
Books mentioned on Artificial Intelligence, Actual Idiots
Trump dismisses the AI CEOs at Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI who are calling for a "global slowdown" of AI development, saying the only government regulation the industry needs is a "high IQ" president.
Jon Favreau discussed How to Eat an Elephant by Sarah Longwell.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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How to Eat an Elephant
How to Eat an Elephant by Sarah Longwell is a book that examines contemporary American politics, voter behavior, and the information environment.
Discussed“I also think in, you write about this in the book that, um, I think you said like, sometimes you think that the most important thing about politics is the lack of trust right now. The trust is the biggest issue.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged How to Eat an Elephant
“She's also got a great new book out. But first, Lovett, speaking of books, I think you had an event that you wanted to mention.”
Passing 1984
“Like one of the all-in guys literally said it would be like us being stranded on a lost civilization in the Amazon rainforest or something like that. Sounds awesome, honestly. Another guy was like, yeah, we'll have to live under a 1984 style authoritarian state.”
Plugged How to Eat an Elephant
“You're here on your book tour. I am. The book is How to Eat an Elephant, One Voter at a Time. It's a fantastic book. Thank you.”
Plugged How to Eat an Elephant
“I think to me, what's more interesting is not who runs. It's sort of what voters want in a post Trump world, because a big part of my theory of the case rests on this fact that Trump has changed the Republican party to such a degree where it is this cult of personality.”