Utah Gov. Spencer Cox criticized the Trump administration’s approaches to prediction markets and artificial intelligence on Thursday — as well as the president’s lack of interest in unifying the country.

During an interview at POLITICO’s 2026 Governors Summit, the Republican governor and occasional critic of President Donald Trump pushed back on the Trump administration’s recent efforts to limit states’ abilities to regulate gambling and AI, saying the federal government “coming in and trying to tell us” to back off state-level fixes is “preposterous.”

“Look, this is a joke, and I can’t believe he tried to say this with a straight