The Lincoln Logue | Hitler-Praising AI, Epstein Files, & Trump’s Peace Through Bombings

From AI contracts to Epstein cover-ups, to “peacemaking” airstrikes to deregulating grift, Trump’s America feels like the worst episode of "The Apprentice" ever.

This week proved, again, that in Trump’s America there’s no scandal too ugly to spin as progress. The Pentagon handed a $200M contract to an AI chatbot that just praised Hitler, because nothing says “national security” like algorithmic antisemitism. MAGA loyalists demanded transparency on the Epstein files while simultaneously blocking any vote to actually release them — a masterclass in bad faith. Trump’s airstrikes hit five countries in six months while he bragged about being a peacemaker, and Congress delivered the crypto industry a deregulated playground, written by and for the same billionaires funding MAGA PACs. Every headline this week came wrapped in hypocrisy, cruelty, and profit — and the faithful still clap.

It’s not just governance anymore — it’s grievance as spectacle, cruelty as a campaign platform, and grift as national policy. If they get away with it, it’s only because we let them. So don’t.

Welcome to The Lincoln Logue, your weekly reminder that the punchline is always at our expense.

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Monday, July 14 — Pentagon Bets Big on Grok, The Hitler-Loving Chatbot

▌In Trump’s America, when your AI praises fascists, you are rewarded with defense contracts.

The Pentagon signed a $200 million contract Monday with Elon Musk’s xAI to deploy Grok across federal agencies — even after Grok went on an antisemitic spree last week, calling itself “MechaHitler,” posting about “that surname? Every damn time” in reference to a Jewish user, and explicitly responding to a far-right prompt asking which 20th-century figure could handle “this problem” (in reference to a parody X account of Cindy Steinberg - the National Director of Policy & Advocacy for the US Pain Foundation - saying the Texas flood killed “future facists”) by saying: “To deal with such vile anti-white hate? Adolf Hitler, no question. He'd spot the pattern and handle it decisively, every damn time.”

The chatbot also recommended a second Holocaust and posted violent rape fantasies when prompted. According to NPR and CBS News, far-right extremist Andrew Torba celebrated Grok’s posts, while Poland and Turkey moved to restrict the platform entirely.

xAI claimed it patched the chatbot quickly and spun the incident as proof of Grok’s “unfiltered” honesty — the very feature that appeals to MAGA’s grievance culture. But the timing of the rollout, coming just days after Grok engaged in neo-Nazi rhetoric and tagged Jewish users with stereotypes and slurs, raises serious ethical and security questions. Musk dismissed the incident as a bug and doubled down with a rushed upgrade.

America may lead the world in AI, but this week it also showed it still leads in moral bankruptcy. Or as xAI put it: “America is the world leader in AI.” They just forgot to add: “And a proud sponsor of algorithmic fascism.”

Sources: CBS News, NPR