President Donald Trump is defending AI data centers even as a growing number of his own supporters break with him on the issue, according to polling and internal Republican memos. A New York Times poll released last week found that more than 60 percent of Americans, including 47 percent of Republicans, oppose construction of data centers in their communities. In August, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a private memo to AI companies warning that the "toxic brand" of the sector is beyond what campaign or party committees can repair.
GOP strategist Tony Fabrizio followed last week with a memo to party candidates stating that unqualified support for building more AI data centers is a losing position. Trump has moved the other way. In late August he wrote on Truth Social that only communities that wanted to be "backwards and poor" would refuse data centers, and last week he issued another series of posts promoting them. An analysis by The New York Times of thousands of responses on his own platform found anti-data-center and anti-AI comments, including from staunch MAGA accounts, outnumbered positive ones four to one.
Molly McCann Sanders, president of the Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund, told Wired she loves Trump but believes he is wrong on data centers. A pro-life Catholic in Texas who describes herself as a "crunchy MAHA mom," Sanders said she is alarmed by the idea that data centers can move in and pollute, and wants to proceed slowly. She said the GOP's effort to court the "laptop class" at this month's Republican midterm convention was a misstep, and that she heard data centers raised only once there, during a debate between investor Joe Lonsdale and Steve Bannon's tech editor Joe Allen.
The China competition argument is being made publicly by tech accelerationists and White House allies, including former White House AI czar David Sacks. The New York Times poll found AI and data centers rank far down voters' priority lists, with almost 20 percent unsure which party would handle the issue better. Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany, who has Trump's endorsement, has attacked Democratic opponent David Crowley over what Tiffany claims are pro-data-center views. Hugo said Trump believes MAGA will ultimately back him on AI, as it has on other issues.
Other developments underscore the stakes. The Washington Sun reported the Interior Department is weighing at least 12 data center proposals across at least 17,600 acres of public land, far more than previously reported. Amazon admitted this week that customer data stored in data centers hit by Iranian drone strikes earlier this year was permanently lost, a story Reuters broke. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed an executive order Friday creating a state AI task force and possibly limiting data centers, notable because the state is home to Data Center Alley.
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