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President Donald Trump was hit by pushback from some MAGA Republicans —including "War Room" host Steve Bannon — for an executive order limiting states' ability to regulate artificial intelligence technology.

The Hill's Alexander Bolton on Tuesday wrote, "Trump is trying to avoid an open fight with Republicans who want to rein in the titans of AI by reaching out to GOP lawmakers to make the argument that state regulation of the industry could cripple its growth. But Republicans who warn that unregulated AI poses a serious threat to intellectual property, American jobs and children's safety aren't happy the president did an end-run around Congress — even if they're holding back from criticizing the president directly."

Bannon is being especially outspoken.

Although the "War Room" podcaster — who served as White House chief strategist in the first Trump Administration in 2017 — is a major Trump ally, he is often critical of the president's alliances with Silicon Valley tech bros. And he isn't shy about attacking Tesla head Elon Musk.

In a statement, Bannon said of Trump's AI executive order, "After two humiliating face plants on must-pass legislation, now we attempt an entirely unenforceable EO — tech bros doing upmost to turn POTUS MAGA base away from him while they line their pockets."

Outgoing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is another MAGA Republican who is critical of Trump's tech alliances.

The Georgia congresswoman recently resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives, effective early January 2026, and believes that Trump has betrayed his America First agenda during his second presidency.

In a post on X, Greene declared, "I will NOT vote for any bill that destroys states' rights and lets AI run wild for the next 10 years. AI will replace jobs, especially in the press. This is not a left or right issue. It's about humanity. I'll go to the mat on this. If you kill federalism, I'm out."

Republicans were shocked by President Donald Trump's finger-pointing and have questioned what's next after his lackluster primetime speech.

White House insiders and GOP lawmakers were reacting to responses to Trump's speech, CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes told viewers Thursday.

"Look, they're all watching everything closely, and they've seen how it's been reviewed. I will say one thing. The White House worked together as a team, as they often do the inner circle to craft this speech. And they needed a speech in which President Trump would stay on message, that was short, that addressed the economy," Holmes said.

Trump blamed former President Joe Biden, a common move he's made in the past — something his team has begged him to stop doing — and tried to say the economy was better than before.

"Now, whether or not you think his message was true, we obviously know that there were numbers that were inflated or just plain wrong. Or if you think that he went off topic, airing his grievances, he did talk about the economy more than we've ever we've seen him in the last several months," Holmes said. "And that is what the White House was intending to do, to try and get the message across that he is aware that things are not in the place that they need to be, and that they are working on it as an administration."

That message did not land well, she said. And Republicans outside the White House had a different response to what the White House had aimed for, "which is try and alleviate people's fears."

Instead, it only ramped up people's worries, especially ahead of the midterms.

"Republicans came out of that speech more anxious that the messaging around the economy was not where it should be going into 2026, and that the party as a whole was not really solidified in that messaging about the economy, especially when it came to all of this blame on the previous administration," Holmes said.

Trump's former campaign advisers have claimed that the president has previously made gains in convincing people he has an understanding of improving the economy. But now things have changed.

"The other thing they said was that it was a lot easier to run when President Trump himself wasn't in power. When you are running against something, you were saying, you can change something," she added. "Now he is facing the same exact circumstances that President Biden was facing at the time, and handling it the exact same way, which, of course, is raising a lot of questions as to where Republicans are going to go from here."