President Donald Trump is raging against Americans who don’t want data centers built in their communities, claiming they will end up “backwards and poor.”
The 80-year-old president fired off a furious rant on Truth Social on Monday apparently aimed at those who oppose the data centers, despite some of the opposition coming directly from MAGA country.
“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump whined. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”
The president went on to claim that the “good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them.”
“If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement,” Trump continued. “Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!”
It puts Trump at odds with the majority of Americans, who oppose the building of artificial intelligence data centers in their communities.
Gallup found earlier this year that seven in ten Americans oppose constructing such data centers in their areas, including 48 percent who strongly oppose it and 23 percent who somewhat oppose it.
Just 7 percent strongly favor the building of centers in their local communities, while 20 percent somewhat favor the move.
The overwhelming opposition has led some Republicans to announce support for data center pauses or moratoriums heading into the midterms, but Trump on Monday appeared to scoff at their concerns and how the issue could impact the November election.
Earlier this month, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers announced support for a one-year moratorium on data center development as he faces a tough race to take the state’s open seat.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an audit of data center projects in his state earlier this month as he runs for re-election in November. Polling by the University of Texas’ Texas Politics Project found 57 percent of Texans strongly or somewhat oppose the construction of data centers in their communities.
Trump was just in Texas last week to raise money for scandal-plagued Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton as the GOP fights to hold onto the seat in what has been a reliably red state for decades.
Much of the local communities’ concern when it comes to building data centers is about how it would impact local resources, quality of life and increased costs, such as higher utility bills. The concerns, according to Gallup polling, outweigh the economic benefits.
Americans have been struggling with higher costs of living already, including rising energy and gas prices, but Trump has largely dismissed concerns about affordability as a hoax by Democrats as his war in Iran and tariff policies drive up costs.
Building a modern AI center can use as much power as 100,000 homes and, in some cases, much more, the World Resources Institute found. They also require a massive amount of water for cooling, with a mid-sized center using as much as 300,000 gallons of water a day.
