'Backward and poor': Trump warns communities fighting data centers could pay the price

WASHINGTON, DC: Amid the widespread public and political backlash against building data centers in American neighborhoods, President Donald Trump on Monday, August 31, said that communities who do not want AI data centers will suffer economically.

While President Trump supports data centers, a large majority of the American public opposes having them built in their local neighborhoods.

President Trump says without data centers, communities will remain poor

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump expressed his opinion about the communities opposed to big computer hubs in their neighborhood and highlighted how data centers would benefit American people.

“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 wrote on the social media.

“If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign,” the president added. “The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them.”

A recent survey by Fox News reveals that a large section of American communities are growing opposed to data centers.  

The poll, conducted last month, found 70 percent of respondents opposed the construction of a data center in their area to support AI. That included 60% of Republicans and 76% of Democrats.

On Monday, Trump argued that if politicians and communities “kill the Golden Goose,” referring to AI, they “will only have [themselves] to blame.”

The president added, “China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening.”

Critics are concerned about environment and financial impact

The major concerns raised by lawmakers and citizens are the environmental and financial impact of these facilities.

According to a report by an analyst at a nonprofit Environmental and Energy Study Institute, published last year, a medium-sized data center can consume up to about 110 million gallons of water per year for cooling purposes, equivalent to the annual water usage of roughly 1,000 households.

Several companies, including Meta, Amazon and Google, have agreed that they will pay increased costs generated by their data centers through Trump’s ratepayer protection pledge.

However, candidates in swing states from both parties have supported restrictions on data centers, as the public issue has now transformed into a political topic.

Earlier this month, Trump said that he is okay with Republican candidates opposing data centers, acknowledging that not everyone can think the same about an issue.

“I’m only saying that if I ran a community … if I was a mayor or if I was a governor in the state, I would want to have the data centers because they bring tremendous income,” he told reporters.