A wave of costly government and tech projects is drawing scrutiny, and it looks bad for taxpayers already skeptical of both parties.

• The Pentagon is pushing AI built directly into military robots and drones, so they can keep fighting even when they lose contact with their human operators.
• The pitch for these weapons is national security and cost savings, with China's open AI models used as the reason America has to keep up.
• A report says the White House already has a nuclear-proof bunker built in secret under Obama, which undercuts Trump's push to build another one.
• SpaceX is selling orbiting data centers powered by the sun, and claims reusable rockets could cut launch costs by 99% — a number worth doubting.
• Suspicion is growing that the inflated price tags and badly run events are less about the projects and more about where the money actually goes.

Outlook: Voters in both parties are souring on Washington, and the coming midterms are shaping up as a test of whether that anger turns into a push for change.