As resistance to AI data centers grows across the US, President Trump is hitting back, warning communities that they're regret protesting them.
“The only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”
He described AI as the “Golden Goose” since investment in the technology has been driving US stock market growth. In addition, Trump implied that the data center backlash could undermine US national security by derailing the country’s progress on artificial intelligence as China races to develop its own cutting-edge AI models.
“China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!” Trump wrote.
Surprisingly, the president’s post is facing some pushback from users on Truth Social, a Twitter-like site that has always been pro-Trump. “Mr. President: Think about farm land and about water resources, and a man as intelligent as you will see that the absolute position you are taking is flawed,” wrote one user in response.
“I have to disagree with this one. AI is evil. The world will regret it in the long run,” wrote a separate user named “Ultra MAGA Prayer Warrior.”
The major AI providers have been trying to address the backlash by pledging to cover the necessary electricity costs. Data centers can also generate new tax revenue for the towns where they're built. Even so, a poll published earlier this month found that 75% of Americans oppose having an AI data center being built near them.
“Data centers are 43 points underwater with Republicans, 65 points underwater with independents, and 75 points underwater with Democrats,” according to the energy-and-environment news site Heatmap News, which published the poll.
The data center backlash has been simmering amid concerns that large facilities will strain the electric grid, drain water supplies, and eventually lead to massive job losses. In other cases, the facilities have generated excessive noise and air pollution from gas turbine use, prompting lawsuits in some communities.
Opposition to AI data centers has been so strong that the issue is becoming a major factor in the midterm elections. At least a few Republicans have accused China of secretly bankrolling AI data center opposition in the US, despite concerns from affected communities. Last week, X also uncovered 200 suspected Chinese-controlled accounts attempting to fuel anti-AI data center sentiment.
Two days into his second term, Trump welcomed Oracle’s Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to the White House to announce Stargate, a joint venture that planned to invest $500 billion over the next four years to develop AI data centers and generate electricity for AI across the US. It's had a bit of a rocky rollout, however.