The public backlash to the growing prominence of artificial intelligence has really coalesced around opposition to data centers in a way that has transcended national politics. Data centers are local; people view them as disruptive and destructive to their local environment, and there is increasing opposition to the projects regardless of political affiliation. Basically, if you’re looking for easy political points, oppose data centers. Donald Trump has a different message for communities trying to push back against the construction of these massive farms of CPUs and GPUs: Stop fighting and take it. In a press conference meant to promote his Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a non-binding and entirely voluntary commitment to shield residents from having to foot the bill for rising energy costs generated by data centers that 23 Republican governors have now signed on to, Trump dismissed political opposition to data center construction as foreign interference and told Americans to just accept that these things are going to be built in their backyard. In Trump’s telling, there’s actually a lot of demand for these projects. “You have communities that really want the data centers. Frankly, those are the smart communities because it means tremendous numbers of jobs, very little actual disruption,” he said. That’s not true: data centers create short-term jobs in the construction phase but produce very few long-term employment opportunities.