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The power draw and physical footprint of large-scale AI compute have made data center siting a recurring source of friction with American communities.
President Trump stepped directly into that conflict, warning publicly that localities resisting new facilities could end up "backwards and poor." The geopolitical framing Trump applied was direct.
He said "China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement," positioning local opposition as a competitive advantage handed to a primary technological rival.
The comment comes as Republican officials have been fielding constituent backlash over the pace and scale of data center development in their home districts.
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