Donald Trump: Communities Refusing Data Centers Will Fall Behind and Be Poor
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Truth Social that communities across the U.S. that refuse to build data centers are only doing so because they want to fall behind and be poor. If they want to be successful and wealthy, with significantly lower taxes and plenty of jobs, they should let data lead the way.
He wrote that the good news is that many other places welcome data centers. If they kill the golden goose, the responsibility will fall solely on themselves. China will be the happiest about this wave of opposition to data centers, even unable to believe it is happening.
This statement comes ahead of the midterm elections in November, where candidates from both parties are calling for a pause on certain projects, and there have been slowdowns in the approval of large projects in places like Texas. Polls from Gallup and others show that about 70% of respondents oppose the construction of new data centers in their communities, primarily due to concerns over electricity, water usage, noise, and job density. The Brookings Institution reports that local opposition has stalled or delayed about 75 projects worth approximately $130 billion as of the first quarter of 2026.
Trump signed an executive order last year to expedite data center permits and has met multiple times with tech companies, framing computing facilities as essential infrastructure for the U.S.-China AI competition. He also stated that he could accept Republican candidates opposing data centers, but if he were to govern a community, he would still want the projects because they generate revenue.
In market terms, the costs are borne by cloud and model companies needing to set up cabinets, while the communities sell land, electricity capacity, and water resources. The situation is driven by the election campaign and local vetoes, with funds flowing from tax agreements in welcoming jurisdictions to new sites; benefiting are counties and states that remain open for access, while communities with near-capacity electricity prices and grids are pressured to accommodate large loads.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
The president frames site selection as a choice between wealth and poverty: accepting cabinets means wealth, rejecting them means poverty. The golden goose metaphor equates AI infrastructure with an indispensable tax base. The local opposition's costs are electricity and water, while the White House's opposition costs relate to the U.S.-China computing competition. These two sets of costs are not in the same ledger, so the same statement represents industrial policy at the capital level and an electricity bill at the town council level.
The capital path involves large-scale capital expenditures seeking the path of least resistance in substations. Projects delayed in one area simply move to counties that are still signing agreements. Money flows from tech companies' construction budgets into transformers, land, and tax increment financing, with job density typically lower than equivalent manufacturing sectors. The first to connect to electricity will be the first to write cabinets into next year's capital expenditure guidance.
The comparison is with shale oil and gas towns, nuclear power plant siting, and the backlash after Amazon's second headquarters bidding. The electricity infrastructure is at a stage of "national-level competition narrative versus local resource limits": the federal government wants speed, while substations are in a queue. The midterm elections have turned cabinets into a local issue, with polls showing that voters from both parties are closer on the sentiment of "not building next to my home."
Structurally, this represents a transfer of pricing power. The mechanism is: when the profits from data centers are priced according to national models, while costs are based on local electricity prices and water levels, the veto power remains with the community, and the mobilization order stays with the president's account. The golden goose can relocate, but electricity prices cannot.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
- National-level competition narratives cannot stop local electricity bills.
- The golden goose can relocate, but substations cannot.
- The profits from cabinets are calculated nationally, while the costs of water and electricity are calculated locally.