Letters from an American

Heather Cox Richardson

Heather Cox Richardson's narrated newsletter about the history behind today's politics. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

  1. 3h ago

    Asking the U.S. Government to Regulate AI

    September 13, 2026 Dario Amodel, the CEO of Anthropic expressed concern that AI models are advancing faster than engineers can understand them, He warned that a swarm of programs could take over the internet and called for AI companies to establish safety standards and limit their rate of progress, He expressed the opinion that the government and public need to have a stake in the development of the technology and that there should be regulation to limit what private companies can do, An Anthropic researcher who recently resigned has expressed concerns about the dangers of unrestrained AI, Employees as well as CEOs of AI companies have posted their support for slowing down the pace of AI improvements, In 2023, President Biden issued an executive order, calling for responsible behavior in the development of AI, Trump revoked this executive order on the day he was inaugurated, Trump and his family have invested heavily in companies tied to the AI boom, Trump has hailed AI data centers although the majority of Americans are against their construction, The Trump administration insists it can overcome rising deficits, through growth, but productivity is slowing, Trump's administration may be thinking that AI is its solution.  Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

    Asking the U.S. Government to Regulate AI
  2. 1d ago

    The Writing is Already on the Wall

    September 12, 2026 Judge J. Michael Luttig published a warning about how Republicans could refuse to seat elected Democrats after the midterm elections, Speaker Mike Johnson has the power to replace the current House clerk with a MAGA loyalist who will refuse to list Democrats on the roll of those elected to the 120th Congress, In this scenario, Democrats will have to go to the courts, perhaps eventually the Supreme Court, which would take weeks, leaving the country vulnerable, Trump’s plan to use the US Postal Service to screen mailed-in votes is being tested in Florida, and shows what will likely happen if the Supreme Court lifts its injunction blocking the USPS from implementing new rules, The DOJ under Trump is threatening, without cause, election workers, using harassment and intimidation to force them to put Trump’s election changes into effect, Luttig urged Republicans to decide not to betray their oaths of office and the country, and  wrote that the Republican Party must “loose the chains of its political and moral enslavement to Donald Trump and separate itself from the MAGA political party cult." Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

    The Writing is Already on the Wall
  3. 2d ago

    The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of 9/11

    Yesterday, Trump’s midterm convention had its second night, The audience was sparse, but Trump got the loyalty he demanded from the crowd that showed up, He promised, again, to pay all adult US citizens $5,000 if the Republicans hold control of the House and the Senate, Meanwhile, along with the Strait of Hormuz being under the control of Iranian forces, Iran backed Houthi militants expanded their control of the area around the Bab el-Mandeb strait which has become an alternative route for Saudi Arabian oil to be shipped to the west, Although the Houthis do not control both sides of the strait, they threaten shipping through the passage, Iran appears to be retaliating for Trump’s threats to strangle the Iranian economy by further slowing the transport, Today is the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Trump did not attend the commemoration at Ground Zero, but delivered a speech at the Pentagon, tying the war on Iran to the attacks of 9/11, All four former presidents and first ladies attended the ceremony, As a famous issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, published in November, 2001, explained, the heroes of 9/11 were ordinary people, who were made extraordinary “by acts of compassion, and courage, and terrible sacrifice." Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

    The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of 9/11
  4. 5d ago

    Hell-bent

    September 8, 2026 Germany’s far right AfD party won 43.8% of the vote in the small state of Saxony0Anhalt, formerly part of the Soviet dominated East Germany, Right wing leaders across Europe celebrated the outcome, Elon Musk, a supporter of AfD, was the largest donor to any political committee in the 2024 presidential eletion, Musk has plowed money into the Texas Senate election, pitting Ken Paxton against James Talrico, Musk is attempting to buy elections for the Republicans, Musk used DOGE to strip agencies like USAID, but appears not to have made signficant savings, Musk’s antics have confirmed the sense that billionaires are a threat to democracy, There is pushback, but it is unclear whther populr pressure can withstnd the extrqaordinary amount of money thta Musk and other billionaires are pouring into the midterms, DOGE’s access to detailed information on US citizens is poised to corrupt the midterm elections.  Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

    Hell-bent
  5. Sep 6

    In a Nutshell

    September 5, 2026 The Trump administration had a busy Friday, US District Judge Talwani blocked Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional plan to use the US Postal Service to screen mail-in voters, A day after Interior Secretary Burgum announced that work was starting on Trump’s arch, US District Court Judge Chutkan ordered the administration to give the court notice before proceeding, Trump said the Iran War is not a war, and denied that military personnel are seeing record long deployments, and that the US controls the Strait of Hormuz, Trump also denies reports of a shortage of munitions, and Pete Hegseth is forcing members of the military’s Joint Staff to take lie detector tests to prove they were not source of leaks, The Defense Department and NIH are moving funds for medical research to the Pentagon, where the Navy has run out of money, Trump appears to misunderstand how trade and trade deficits work, And the US was the only country to vote against a UN resolution to change the world map to more accurately reflect the size of continents, more than 450 years after the commonly used Mercator projection was created. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

    In a Nutshell
4.9
out of 5
6,284 Ratings

About

Heather Cox Richardson's narrated newsletter about the history behind today's politics. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

You Might Also Like