Trump attacks datacenter pushback, saying opponents ‘want to end up being backwards and poor’
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Donald Trump has hit out at communities across the US that are resisting new datacentre developments, warning on Truth Social that opponents risk becoming "backwards and poor" and accusing a growing "anti Data Center movement" of handing an advantage to China. Vice-president JD Vance defended datacentres as vital to the AI economy, though he conceded that roughly 99% of local opposition stems from developments pushing up residents' utility and electricity bills, and urged firms to add power back to the grid rather than draining it. The row has become a politically charged issue ahead of November's midterm elections, with resistance to datacentres cutting across party lines and drawing pushback even from Trump's own supporters on his social media platform.
Polling shows three-quarters of Americans oppose a datacentre being built near their home, with more than six in ten strongly against it, reflecting concerns over environmental impact, water use, noise and rising bills. Data Center Watch found grassroots campaigners had blocked or delayed at least 75 projects worth roughly $130bn (£103bn) in the first three months of 2026, with successful resistance recorded in places including Monterey Park, California, Prince William county, Virginia, and Wake county, North Carolina. More than 230 environmental organisations had already urged Congress to pause new datacentre construction over climate, drought and electricity-cost concerns.
- Trump says datacentre opponents risk being "backwards and poor"
- Vance admits most backlash is driven by rising utility bills
- Grassroots groups have blocked $130bn of projects in 2026
New here? Start with this
Datacentres are the vast warehouses of computer servers that power the internet, cloud computing and, increasingly, artificial intelligence tools. Building more of them is central to the AI boom, but new sites need huge amounts of electricity and water, and are often built close to residential areas. In the US, this has led to a growing number of local communities objecting to proposed developments in their area.
President Donald Trump has been a vocal supporter of expanding datacentre capacity, arguing it is essential for America to keep pace with rivals such as China in the AI race. Vice-president JD Vance has also backed the technology, though he has acknowledged that much of the public concern is tied to rising utility and electricity bills linked to the facilities' energy demands, rather than opposition to AI itself.
The issue has taken on political weight because opposition to datacentres cuts across party lines, uniting residents and campaign groups regardless of their politics, and has even drawn criticism from some of Trump's own supporters. With midterm elections due in November, the dispute over where and how quickly to build this infrastructure has become entangled with wider debates about energy costs, the environment and America's competitive position in AI.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Advocates of continued datacentre expansion argue that the infrastructure underpinning artificial intelligence is now a matter of national economic and strategic importance, and that the United States risks ceding technological and military advantage to China if it hesitates. They contend that datacentres bring substantial investment, construction jobs and long-term tax revenue to host regions, and that short-term local costs, including higher electricity bills, are a manageable price for securing leadership in a transformative industry. From this perspective, blocking or delaying projects reflects a parochial reluctance to accept necessary change, and sustained investment now is essential to future prosperity and competitiveness.
The case against
Opponents argue that residents have a legitimate right to resist developments that directly raise their household utility and electricity costs, particularly when the financial benefits of datacentres largely accrue to distant corporations rather than local communities. They point to genuine environmental concerns, including strain on water supplies, increased carbon emissions and pressure on local power grids, as reasons for caution rather than obstruction for its own sake. For these critics, protecting affordable living costs, natural resources and local democratic input into planning decisions is not backwardness but a reasonable insistence that rapid technological growth should not come at the direct expense of ordinary residents.
Full account
Donald Trump has hit out at communities across the United States that are resisting the construction of data centres, warning that opponents of the boom risk being left "backwards and poor" while rivals such as China benefit. The intervention, posted to his Truth Social platform on a Monday, comes as data centre developments have become an unlikely flashpoint in local and state politics ahead of November's midterm elections, with objections cutting across party lines. Polling cited alongside the story found that roughly three in four Americans would oppose a data centre being built near their home, with more than six in ten saying they would object strongly, underlining how widespread the unease has become even as the president frames the facilities as essential to America's economic and technological future.
In his post, Trump argued that only communities wanting to become "backwards and poor" would turn away data centres, insisting that hosting them would instead bring lower taxes and abundant jobs. He warned that other locations were ready to take projects that were rejected, and cautioned that killing off what he called the "Golden Goose" would leave objecting communities with only themselves to blame. He also suggested that Beijing was delighted by the growing resistance, claiming China could scarcely believe its good fortune as the anti-data centre movement gathered pace in the US.
The remarks were echoed, with some qualification, by vice-president JD Vance, who described data centres as an important part of the AI economy but acknowledged that most of the backlash stemmed from areas where developments pushed up local electricity bills. He suggested developers should build power generation alongside their facilities and feed surplus energy back into the grid, arguing that data centres would prove far less controversial if they did not leave residents paying more for utilities. The dispute also has a state-level dimension: Trump has separately criticised Texas governor Greg Abbott's approach as a mistake, even as Texas cements itself as a major hub, with Dallas ranked the world's leading data centre market. Elsewhere, responses have varied, from Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro imposing new conditions on large developments to New York's Kathy Hochul enacting a year-long moratorium on new hyperscale sites, reflecting a patchwork of state-level approaches to the same pressures on power costs and grid capacity.
Not everyone was persuaded by the president's argument, with several users replying directly to his post to raise concerns about the impact on farmland and water supplies, questioning what use wealth would be without access to food and water. Separately, research from the group Data Center Watch was cited as showing that grassroots campaigns had blocked or delayed at least 75 data centre projects worth some $130bn in the first three months of the year, illustrating the scale of organised opposition. Coverage of the row diverged in emphasis: one account focused on the grassroots and consumer backlash, citing polling, Vance's caveats about utility bills, the Data Center Watch figures and critical replies from Trump's own supporters, while another framed the dispute chiefly through the lens of the US-China AI race and state-by-state political responses, highlighting Texas's market dominance and contrasting the stances taken by governors in Texas, Pennsylvania and New York.
Where outlets differ
One outlet foregrounds the poll showing roughly 75% public opposition to nearby data centres and the Data Center Watch figures on blocked projects, framing the story around grassroots and consumer resistance; the other barely mentions the poll and instead centres the story on Trump's AI-dominance and US-China competitiveness framing.
Only one source includes JD Vance's fuller remarks acknowledging that most backlash stems from rising utility bills, and includes critical reader replies posted directly under Trump's Truth Social message.
Only the other source details specific gubernatorial responses — Greg Abbott in Texas, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania and Kathy Hochul in New York — and cites Dallas's ranking as the world's top data centre market, giving more weight to the state-policy patchwork angle.