Trump says AI data center opponents want to be 'backwards and poor'

[MJF_Fan]

President Trump attacked opponents of AI data centers on Truth Social, saying communities opposing them would end up backwards and poor while communities that welcome them would be successful and rich, with lower taxes and jobs everywhere. He argued that killing what he called the golden goose would only hurt the communities themselves, and separately claimed China could not be happier watching the growing backlash against data centers in the US

The comments land as opposition to AI data centers has become a genuine and surprising issue heading into November's midterm elections, with Trump increasingly at odds with members of his own party on this specific issue. A Fox News poll from July found 70 percent of respondents opposed building a data center in their own area, including 60 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats, and candidates in at least 21 races across 18 states have already run television ads mentioning data centers this election cycle, roughly evenly split between both parties

Vice President Vance later tried to soften Trump's specific framing, telling reporters that 99 percent of the concern was really about the importance of data centers for AI rather than dismissing local concerns outright, even as the administration has separately gotten top tech firms to sign a voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge meant to shield consumers from rising electricity prices. Curious what people think actually explains this level of genuinely broad, bipartisan opposition to data centers specifically

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