Who?
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
LISTEN: Laslo & Cramer
Ask a Pol asks:
What was your takeaway from all those AI briefings and forums last year?
Key Cramer:
“I don’t know,” Cramer tells Ask a Pol. “I’s like crypto. When I decide I’m not interested anymore, ‘cause I’ve got 1,400 other priorities, I leave it up to somebody smarter, somebody else.”
Caught our ear on deepfakes
“I think there’s plenty of impetus to act. The problem is that people will act according to what’s in their interest, y’know, at the moment,” Cramer says.
ICYMI
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Kevin Cramer
Matt Laslo: “How are you?”
Kevin Cramer: “Hey, I’m good, how are you?”
ML: “Does tonight matter at all? New Hampshire? Does New Hampshire[‘s primary] matter?”
KC: “Oh, does it matter? Here’s what I’ve always said about New Hampshire and Iowa. And this — it matters less all the time as things get a little bit closer, a little consolidated, right and I’ve got a lot of history with this. Come on in.”
Cramer waves Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo onto his elevator.
KC: “But it matters in this sense — and it still seems to — and that is it’s a momentum creator.”
ML: “Yeah?”
KC: “Particularly, if you stack — if Iowa and New Hampshire go the same direction, it makes almost everything else meaningless. And it’s kind of too bad in the sense that this way, in some respects, a national primary makes some sense, the problem then is that little places like New Hampshire and Iowa...”
ML: “…are forgotten.”
KC: “…their intimate discussions are forgotten. And so that’s the beauty of it. The downside of it is it can create momentum that prevents something else, maybe, from happening. So that’s — so yeah, it matters in that sense.”
ML: “But now with [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis out, this doesn’t feel like much of a race?”
Both laugh.
KC: “Well, that’s because one guy’s run away with it, and he’s earned it, y’know.”
ML: “Have you seen the deepfakes that were deployed?”
KC: “The what?”
ML: “Have you seen the deepfakes that were deployed? Like using President Biden’s voice?”
ICYMI
KC: “I heard about it this morning on one of the shows when I was working out. It was one of the — I have the three TVs going on, and they’re all different channels.”
Sen. Cramer laughs.
ML: “Because last January I was asking each of you US senators about this, and you were like, ‘What?’ We’re now in the midst of Election 2024…”
KC: “Oh, for sure, we are.”
ML: “…and we’re gonna see deepfakes deployed like we’ve never seen before.”
KC: “Right, probably.”
ML: “Like, is there any impetus to act?”
KC: “Well, I think there’s plenty of impetus to act. The problem is that people will act according to what’s in their interest, y’know, at the moment. So is there a broader impetus to act? You know, I don’t think any of this stuff is — I don’t think anybody likes it, to the degree they can stop it. Y’know, I often wonder how many deepfakes are prevented for each one that gets through. Sorta like any type of a cyber situation, until you can stop them all, y’know, you probably have to counter them with ‘That’s a deep — that’s a fake.’”
ML: “Was the takeaway from all those AI briefings and forums last year — what was your takeaway from them?”
KC: “I don’t know.”
ML: “Right?”
Laslo laughs.
KC: “When I decide — listen, it’s like crypto. When I decide I’m not interested anymore, ‘cause I’ve got 1,400 other priorities, I leave it up to somebody smarter, somebody else.”
ML: “Yeah. Sweet. ‘Preciate you.”
Transcript stops, but audio continues of another reporter asking about 2024 vice Presidnetial politics.
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