Does "America First" Still Include You?

President Trump says Nvidia’s newest AI chip, the Blackwell, isn’t for “other people.”

Translation? “America gets it. The rest of the world can deal with leftovers.”

Sounds patriotic, right? But let’s slow down. Because the real question isn’t whether America should protect its tech. It’s whether you, the average American trying to stay afloat in this AI tidal wave, actually get anything out of it.

Think about it. Every time a politician says, “We’re keeping this for Americans,” do you ever feel like the beneficiary?

Be honest. Did your rent go down? Did your health insurance suddenly cover mental sanity? Did your boss hand you a raise because “America First” finally trickled down? Or did the same corporations just get fatter while you’re still staring at the same $1,400 MacBook that can barely handle Chrome tabs, let alone AI models?

When President Trump says America is keeping the Blackwell chip, he’s not talking about your America.

He’s talking about the corporate one. The Nvidia-Amazon-Google one. The one where “innovation” means another press release, another trillion-dollar valuation, and another tax loophole.

Meanwhile, you, the developer, teacher, mechanic, small-business owner, Uber driver, or dreamer are left applauding from the bleachers, watching billionaires play capture-the-flag with the future.

And that’s the part that bugs me. Because regular Americans, have been sold this fantasy that protecting “our tech” somehow protects us. But when was the last time Silicon Valley asked for your opinion before building something that reshaped your job, your privacy, or your kid’s education?

Let’s not kid ourselves, you don’t own this tech. You rent it, subscribe to it, depend on it, and get locked out of it the second your card declines.

Still, I get the logic. No one wants China reverse-engineering our best stuff.

National security matters. But you know what else matters? National opportunity. And right now, most Americans don’t even have a seat at the table in this so-called AI revolution.

We’re busy worrying about rent, debt, or just keeping up with the tech that keeps replacing us. So yeah, great, the chips stay in America but does that actually help the American people? Or does it just mean the richest companies get to charge us more while bragging about “national leadership”?

Let’s be brutally honest here: AI isn’t some mystical savior. It’s a power game. The people who control the chips control the future; the economy, the jobs, the data, and the decisions. So when President Trump says we’re not sharing, he’s right about one thing: this tech is power.

But he’s wrong if he thinks that automatically translates into prosperity for the average person, what good is tech dominance if your life doesn’t feel dominant?

Ask yourself, do you really think keeping Nvidia’s chips on American soil means more American jobs? Because last I checked, most AI jobs don’t go to the people flipping burgers in Ohio or fixing roofs in Arizona.

They go to Stanford grads who can write Python in their sleep, or to automation systems that make sure those burger-flipping jobs don’t exist next year. So what exactly are we celebrating here? National pride or national illusion?

This whole chip war is just a new kind of class war. Only now, it’s wrapped in the flag. We’re told it’s about patriotism, but it’s really about ownership; who gets to own the future and who gets to rent it from them. If you’re not building the models, training the data, or holding Nvidia stock, you’re not part of this “America.” You’re part of the audience.

Do you actually feel represented by this move? Do you feel like America keeping its best chips means you’ll have a better life? Or do you feel like, once again, you’re being used as emotional cover for billion-dollar decisions that won’t even ripple into your world? Because if you don’t feel represented, maybe it’s time to start questioning what kind of “national interest” actually includes you.

Here’s my advice, and I say this as someone watching the same circus you are: stop waiting for Washington or Silicon Valley to make tech work for you. They won’t. Start thinking about how you can use AI tools before they get locked behind corporate gates.

Learn, experiment, and build something small but yours. Because in the end, America doesn’t win when its companies hoard the future. It wins when its people own a piece of it.

Do you think Trump’s right? Do you think locking down Nvidia’s chips helps America or just a handful of Americans?

Are we protecting the country or protecting the rich? I want your take.

Hit reply and tell me how this feels from where you sit, whether you’re coding in a coffee shop, managing a team, or just trying to stay relevant in a world that keeps sprinting ahead.

The real question isn’t whether America gets the chips, it’s whether you get a slice of the future they’re building with them.

Best,

Matt Masinga
Credtrus AI