Trump: Towns rejecting AI data centers will be 'backwards and poor'

The White House is drawing a hard line on AI infrastructure, and the president isn’t softening the message. Donald Trump took to Truth Social this week to dismiss the wave of local opposition against data center construction, warning that communities that turn these projects away will become “backwards and poor.” His broader argument: every stalled facility is a gift to Beijing. “China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement,” he wrote, framing the backlash as a direct threat to American competitiveness in the AI race.

The numbers behind the resistance are hard to ignore. A March Gallup poll found that 71 percent of Americans don’t want data centers built near their homes, citing concerns about electricity costs, noise, and water consumption. The opposition isn’t just talk, either. Data Center Watch, a research group tracking these fights, counted at least 75 projects blocked or delayed in the first quarter of 2026 alone, representing roughly $130 billion in stalled investment. Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft have all had to respond to local pushback.

Trump’s framing taps into a claim that’s been circulating in Washington for months: that China isn’t just competing on data center capacity, but actively stoking domestic opposition to slow down American buildout. A congressional committee has reportedly called for an investigation into whether Beijing is fueling the protests. Meanwhile, China plans to nearly double its own data center capacity over the next five years.

Not everyone in the administration is on the same page. Vice President Vance acknowledged data centers are central to the AI economy, but argued operators should build their own power plants rather than strain local grids. That’s a meaningful split — Trump sees local resistance as a national security problem, while Vance seems to think at least some of the complaints about grid strain are legitimate. How that tension resolves will shape whether the federal government tries to preempt local zoning laws or leaves communities to fight it out.