Strategic Memo
This Strategic Memo of The Deal of the Century is a live updated, general case, reference manual and operations workbook for The Deal of the Century and its upcoming US Persuasion Tours.
It aims to support our US Persuasion Tour, and related outreach activities, to persuade a critical mass of key potential influencers of Trump’s AI policy to champion a bold and timely US-China-led global AI treaty.
Developed over 6 months and comprising 90-plus pages, the Memo comprises a deep profiling of key influencers—including JD Vance, Sam Altman, Pope Leo XIV, Steve Bannon, Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, Tulsi Gabbard, Dario Amodei, Google leaders, David Sacks, and less Elon Musk and Peter Thiel—and highly targeted pitches and cases for them.
Its 1st version will be published on September 24th, 2025 and updated monthly.
Abstract
[From the Strategic Memo of The Deal of the Century draft of Sept 18th, 2025]
As in 1946, a handful of individuals hold the rare power to harness the immense risks of a fast-unfolding technology, and an opening political window, to persuade a pragmatic U.S. President to lead an extraordinarily bold global treaty - this time for AI.
Once again, a few have an astounding opportunity to shape history by building a sane and durable global governance of dangerous technologies and other inherently global issues: The Deal of the Century.
In a striking coincidence that could play a surprising role in shaping history, the Baruch Plan was presented to the United Nations on June 14, 1946, barely an hour after Donald Trump was born in Queens, New York.
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In an extraordinary twist of history, humanity's survival and flourishing may depend on persuading Donald Trump to champion the boldest diplomatic initiative since the nuclear age. As OpenAI, xAI, Meta, and NVIDIA openly race toward Artificial Superintelligence - AI that self-improves beyond human control - even Elon Musk and Sam Altman acknowledge the existential risks. Yet a narrow window remains to transform this accelerating AI arms race into humanity's greatest triumph.
This Strategic Memo presents a blueprint for action, not another white paper. It targets a handful of selected key potential Trump's AI policy influencers - like J.D. Vance, Sam Altman, Steve Bannon, Pope Leo XIV, Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, Tulsi Gabbard - with precision-crafted arguments tailored to their unique psychologies, values, and interests. Our deep analysis reveals how three or four united voices could sway Trump on pragmatic terms to pursue what we frame as "The Deal of the Century": a US-led global AI treaty securing American advantage while preventing extinction.
History provides both precedent and urgency. On June 14, 1946 - barely an hour after Trump's birth - President Truman proposed the Baruch Plan, to place all dangerous nuclear technology under exclusive global control. The plan nearly succeeded, shaped by Oppenheimer and Acheson's forceful advocacy to a pragmatic president. Today, with 77% of US voters supporting a strong AI treaty and Trump seeking strong wins along his China visit this Fall, similar dynamics could prevail.
But success requires abandoning failed treaty-making methods. We need extraordinarily trusted, high-bandwidth and effective bilateral negotiation processes and infrastructure for an initial US-China Emergential AI Treaty. We then need a high-bandwidth, time-bound, veto-free treaty making process - possibly inspired by the 1787 US Constitutional Convention - to ensure the necessary timely and detailed buy-in of at least another dozen powerful nations. This is not globalism but "peace through strength," positioning Trump to secure a permanent US technological advantage while preventing both Chinese dominance and human extinction.
This Memo transforms immense uncertain AI risks into concrete political opportunities. By aligning disparate interests and worldviews of key potential influencers—from Vance's post-liberal conservatism to Altman's techno-optimism, from Bannon's civilizational warfare to the Pope's human dignity concerns—we demonstrate how framing a bold treaty serves each influencer's deepest values and practical interests.
If a critical mass of those influencers unite at the end of 2025, they can redirect not just AI development but human history itself—from inevitable catastrophe toward a triumph of the human race.
Request a draft of the late draft of the Memo at cbpail@trustlesscomputing.org