Major General Reveals Bonkers Relationship With ChatGPT

Even America’s top military commanders are jumping in on the AI chatbot wave.

A U.S. Army general told reporters earlier this week that he’d become very fond of “Chat,” even trusting the algorithm to make “key command decisions” in relation to his post.

“I’ve become—Chat and I are really close lately,” Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor said, using a cozy pop culture moniker to refer to generative AI programs during a roundtable at the annual Association of the United States Army conference on Monday.

“As a commander, I want to make better decisions,” Taylor explained. “I want to make sure that I make decisions at the right time to give me the advantage.”

Taylor did not provide specific examples as to how AI has assisted him in completing his duties, though he underscored its use in writing weekly reports and noted that the field army he commands in South Korea was “regularly using” relevant AI programs for predictive analysis.

“As we talk about protection, drone use, counter-drones and counter-UAS, medical modernization, aviation modernization, we have something going on in almost every domain of modernization in Korea, right? AI is one thing that, as a commander, it’s been very, very interesting for me. Obviously, I’ve been in the Army for a long time, right? And so I was in the Army before computers,” Taylor said, according to DefenseScoop.

Like most of America’s managerial workforce, Taylor said that he’s also turned to AI to inform his leadership approach.

“One of the things that recently I’ve been personally working on with my soldiers is decision-making—individual decision-making. And how [we make decisions] in our own individual life, when we make decisions, it’s important. So, that’s something I’ve been asking and trying to build models to help all of us,” Taylor said. “Especially, [on] how do I make decisions, personal decisions, right—that affect not only me, but my organization and overall readiness?”

How much playing dumb can House Speaker Mike Johnson do before he reveals that he’s a genuine idiot?

During a press conference Friday, Johnson had an outlandish response when asked about a recent ProPublica report that found 170 U.S. citizens had been unlawfully detained by ICE, including 20 children.

“I’m not—I don’t know what you’re talking about with the children,” Johnson replied.

When the reporter interrupted to repeat the number of U.S. citizens that had been detained, Johnson doubled down. “I haven’t seen that, so I’m not going to comment on it. But I will tell you that ICE is doing the job that the American people demanded that they do.”

Johnson was also asked about Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s comments criticizing the speaker for failing to address the protective order against Representative Cory Mills for allegedly threatening to release sexually explicit materials of his ex-girlfriend.

“They expelled George Santos, Mike Johnson did. He was speaker and oversaw George Santos being expelled. Why isn’t he doing anything about Cory Mills?” Greene told Axios Thursday.

“There’s clearly proof behind her accusations that a judge is issuing a restraining order. So I would say to Speaker Johnson, this is a serious matter, and it needs to be taken seriously,” she added.

But Johnson didn’t seem interested in that. “I don’t—I try not to react to what Marjorie Taylor Greene says every day,” he replied Friday.

“I did see, somebody told me that she accused me of ousting Santos, which of course is the exact opposite of the history. Everyone can go review what happened. I opposed his expulsion from Congress. I voted against it. I advocated to my colleagues not to do that,” he said.

Johnson oversaw Santos’s expulsion in 2023, though he noted at the time he had voted against the measure because he didn’t want to set a precedent of removing members who had not been convicted of a crime. The Louisiana Republican also claimed that as Santos reported to prison, he had posted a friendly message about the speaker. In fact, Santos had accused Johnson of blocking his shot at a presidential pardon.

“So look, I don’t know what Marjorie’s talking about,” Johnson said, adding that he’d wait for the legal procedures against Mills to play out. (Johnson had dismissed a question about the Mills allegations Wednesday as not “really serious.”)

This is far from the first time Johnson has played dumb about a question, as he continues to conduct daily propaganda press briefings during the ongoing government shutdown. “I don’t know” has become his answer for everything.

Johnson claimed Thursday he had “no idea” how the government shutdown would end. When asked about reports of brutality by federal agents operating in Chicago, Johnson claimed he’d “not seen them cross the line yet.”

Lawyers for alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO–killer Luigi Mangione on Friday cited President Donald Trump’s own social media posts in court to argue the entire case should be dismissed, or at least the death penalty should be taken off the table.

Mangione’s defense team argued that the Trump administration is using their client as “a pawn to further its political agenda,” and that statements and reposts by DOJ officials have completely tarnished his right to a fair trial.  

On September 18, Trump said in a Fox News interview that Mangione looked like a “pure assassin.”  

“He shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me.… He shot him right in the middle of the back—instantly dead.… This is a sickness. This really has to be studied and investigated.” 

Everything Trump said was only alleged. 

A clip of the interview was posted by the White House social media team Rapid Response 47. Justice Department Public Affairs head Chad Gilmartin retweeted it, commenting that the president was “absolutely right,” violating the judge’s explicit orders that DOJ employees refrain from public comment about the  case. 

“The Department of Justice and the White House have coordinated to cultivate and disseminate negative public rhetoric deliberately designed to taint the prospective jury pool,” defense attorneys Karen Agnifilo and Avi Moskowitz told the court. “The significance of these prejudicial statements is that they have life or death consequences for Mr. Mangione.”

The Justice Department tried to argue that Trump’s statements are irrelevant given that he’s not related to the case, but the defense highlighted the president’s growing control of DOJ.

“Unlike any of its predecessors since the Watergate era, the Department of Justice has not acted independently of the White House in this case—or in several others,” the defense filing read. “This departure from the longstanding principle of prosecutorial independence has created a blurred and constitutionally troubling line between the Department of Justice and the Executive Office of the President.”

Prosecutors also argued that any potential jurors have plenty of time between now and Mangione’s trial to forget about Trump’s statements. Mangione’s lawyers disagreed. 

“The government has engaged in purposeful, repeated, unlawful actions specifically designed to hurt Mr. Mangione’s chances at fair legal proceedings and a fair trial and as part of a wider government effort to further a political agenda,” they said. “These same officials—whether acting directly or through their subordinates—have continued on this course even after this Court has explicitly directed them not to has caused this case to be unlike any prior death penalty case.”

Mangione still sits in a Brooklyn jail awaiting a trial date. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pulled no punches in comments about White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt Friday morning.

Leavitt had drawn widespread outcry with an inflammatory claim Thursday that the Democratic Party’s “main constituency” consists of “Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.”

Jeffries, in turn, described the press secretary as “sick” and “out of control.”

“I’m not sure whether she’s just demented, ignorant, a stone cold liar, or all of the above,” he told reporters. “But the notion that an official White House spokesperson would say that the Democratic Party consists of terrorists, violent criminals, and undocumented immigrants. This makes no sense that this is what the American people are getting from the Trump administration in the middle of a shutdown.”

Leavitt’s divisive statement has earned condemnations from other prominent Democrats as well.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut called it both “grossly dark” and “politically dumb,” writing on X, “How do they think Americans will react to being told that anyone who doesn’t support Trump is a terrorist?”

“Most Republicans are good people. Most Democrats are good people. The White House says outrageous things to make you hate your neighbor,” said Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and previous Democratic nominee for vice president. “Your neighbor isn’t the problem. The White House is.”

Representative Greg Casar of Texas, a progressive Democrat, called on Leavitt to resign. “They try to make us hate each other,” he said, “to distract from the fact that they’re robbing us all blind.”

What President Donald Trump described as a “great and successful day” at his Alaska summit with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin two months ago was apparently a major disaster.

The Financial Times reported Friday that after the visiting autocrat’s warm welcome, ice caps quickly formed between him and Trump. Putin firmly rejected America’s offer to relieve sanctions in return for a ceasefire with Ukraine, and insisted that the bloodshed would only end if Ukraine ceded more territory to him, according to multiple people briefed.

Putin then launched into a rambling historical tirade, citing medieval princes and seventeenth-century chieftains as evidence that Ukraine and Russia were meant to be a single nation.

Trump was reportedly upset at his good buddy’s attitude and raised his voice several times, even threatening to leave, people told the Financial Times. The U.S. president ended up cutting the meeting short and canceling a lunch afterward to discuss further cooperation.

And Trump’s business partner Steve Witkoff may be partially to blame for the screwup. The U.S. special envoy reportedly traveled to Russia in August to urge Putin to come to the table, and Witkoff apparently misconstrued Russia’s openness to make a deal. “He misunderstood everything Putin said about what the summit was going to be about,” a person briefed on the talks told the FT.

Since the summit, Trump has changed his tune on making endless concessions to Russia, even suggesting that Ukraine could claw back its original borders. Trump is scheduled to host Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House Friday, to discuss the possibility of providing arms to Ukraine in the ongoing conflict with Russia, which may be starting to expand across Europe.

The new details about Alaska have emerged as Trump prepares to meet with Putin again. Trump announced Thursday that he would sit down with his Russian counterpart in Budapest “within two weeks or so.” He did not give a more specific date.