Thune Tries to Carve Out Lane for GOP on Data Centers Beyond Trump’s ‘Poor’ People Bombast

Trump Is Making It Impossible President Trump has made it impossible for Republicans to seize on a relatively easy, bipartisan issue that could help them win over voters in the midterms if they spoke about it in the right way. As he espouses bombastic rhetoric about how only “poor and backwards” people oppose data center construction, Republicans have struggled with how exactly to cross him on the matter. American opposition to data center construction in their communities is one of the only issues that voters across the political spectrum can agree on at the moment. TPM has been tracking the bipartisan outrage aimed at the tech industry’s attempts to expand this construction boom in rural and urban communities around the nation. A May Gallup poll found that more than 70% of Americans are anti-data center, primarily because of their fears about tech companies coming in to their towns and building facilities that drain local water and energy resources, all for the purpose of expanding the capabilities of artificial intelligence that could eventually be used to strip human Americans of their jobs. The backlash is simple, relatable and widespread enough that some Republicans — including anti-regulation Republicans who have embraced accelerated AI development — are attempting to message around data center differently heading into the midterms given how universal fears are among voters. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, has, at least temporarily, blocked new data center projects from connecting to the state’s power grid. After extending an open invitation to tech companies to come and build in Texas, Abbott softened his stance amid mounting voter backlash about rising energy costs tied to the projects. Trump has made any attempt at nuance nearly impossible for members of his party facing reelection. He’s paid back the tech company executives who donated to his inauguration and funded his White House ballroom by using his second term to push for unregulated AI expansion and is even pushing new rules that make it more difficult for local governments to get public input on data center construction. Earlier this week, the president planted himself firmly in alignment with Big Tech interests by suggesting only communities that want to be “poor and backwards” should be opposed to the construction of the facilities and the natural gas plants that run them. Likely recognizing the vulnerable opening Trump created with his hard line on the matter, Vice President JD Vance tried to dial that back a bit, suggesting that tech companies should “be putting power back into the grid” in the communities where they’re building. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) tried to do something similar on Monday. “These entities need to be self-sufficient,” Thune told a local South Dakota TV station. “They ought to be able to take care of their own utilities, their own power, and that ought to be a given any place they go in the country. But they shouldn’t be going places where there isn’t support for them at the local level.” The Trump administration has, reportedly, tried to press data center developers to sign a pledge that they will try to keep electricity costs in check in the communities where they’re doing construction. But you wouldn’t know it from Trump’s rhetoric. It appears that both Thune and Vance are trying to give vulnerable Republicans a reasonable message to voters on an issue that could be an easy win — if Trump cared about Republicans winning the midterms more than maintaining the Big Tech oligarchy he’s enabled. No One Wants to Go to Trump’s Fake Dallas Convention The Republican Party is hosting a bizarre midterms convention in Dallas later this month in an event that will feature President Trump as the headlining speaker. He’s reportedly planning to use the moment to tout his perception of his record so far this term, in hopes that it will somehow bolster Republicans’ prospects in November (unclear how his cratering approval rating factors into all of this). But the GOP convention in Dallas is not exactly something that Republicans are rushing to attend — and why would they? Trump has actively made it harder for Republicans to have anything concrete to campaign on this cycle, both in the data center realm, as I unpacked above, and also on other issues, like his obsession with the SAVE Act (and torpedoing easy wins while pressuring Congress to pass it). Politico surveyed more than 70 Republican candidates and members of Congress to see if any were planning to attend. Most are not: The 45 Republicans cited a variety of reasons for skipping the first midterm convention put on by a major party in more than four decades. Some cited prior obligations such as fundraisers or events in their districts that were planned before the convention was scheduled in June. Others had personal conflicts, like weddings and family events, and still others raised qualms about the five-figure-minimum fees that party officials want attending lawmakers to pony up. And some Republicans in tough races are steering clear of the gathering — which has come to be called “Trump-a-palooza” in some GOP circles — as they face growing hesitation about associating themselves with the polarizing president so close to the election. But Maybe They’ll Come to This President Donald Trump is hosting vulnerable Republican incumbents facing tough re-election contests for dinner in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, according to a White House official with knowledge of the invitations. The invitees include GOP lawmakers who are locked in competitive races this November, according to the official, who declined to provide a full list of the Republican attendees. Here’s What Else You Should Read From TPM Today Josh Kovensky has new details on the Trump administration’s use of a tool that Congress created in 2001, in the early days of the War on Terror, to investigate groups that oppose the Trump administration’s agenda: DHS Brings PATRIOT Act Tool to Bear in NSPM-7 Investigation Emine Yücel has a new piece out today that outlines how Democrats have evolved on the issue of expanding the Supreme Court: What Democrats Have, and Haven’t, Said About Supreme Court Reform “The destruction of a professional military has to rank among the most egregious and long-lasting of Trump II initiatives targeting government itself, along with his attacks on the merit-based civil service system, his abusive misuse of the Justice Department, his elimination of USAID, and his running roughshod over Congress’ power of the purse,” David Kurtz writes in today’s edition of Morning Memo: The Pentagon Purges Will Continue Until Morale Improves Yesterday’s Top Story AUDIO: Colorado GOP Gov. Nominee Tells Wild Exorcism Story About Fighting ‘Satan In Person’ What I’m Reading ICE Plans to Pay $5 Million to Create National Voting Database Tillis renews calls for Hegseth’s ouster Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread Fine. Then build the data centers in Palm Beach and Piney Point. Surely those people are not, and do not want to become, poor and backwards. Problem solved. Better yet, turn Mar-a-Lego into a data center. Plenty of room there. Afternoon Frist! So CF-DJT and his billionaire backers would welcome Data Centers near their homes, businesses and clubs? ETA: Apparently tied for Frist! Will he be breaking out the above ground pool? MS NOW reports: > President Donald Trump is hosting vulnerable Republican incumbents facing tough re-election contests for dinner in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, according to a White House official with knowledge of the invitations. My company is currently using AI in developing its software products. I have a lot of employees who are enthusiastic about AI. I am going to say what I am going to say because I just haven’t seen a reason to be super enthusiastic AI is not the world beating replacement for human beings that the Tech Bros think. It is a software enhancement tool. It will take a lot of jobs from junior developers. More likely theire will be an explosion of new tech coming to the market faster and faster. The people who are going to benefit from AI are the senior developers and architects who can benefit from automating processes. I have one executive who thinks AI can be used to hunt down the right tools for the company. It can but anybody with experience in the industry can do the same job just as quickly. Why? AI required somebody to write a question with sufficient detail that the AI will find the correct answer. Writing that querry is a lot of fun but before you can write one that will give you the correct answer you have to know the subject matter sufficiently to understand whether the answer the AI gives you is right. Most experts carry that kind of information around in their heads and they don’t take square mile power and water hungry data centers to give you the right answer..AI doen’t make an uneducated enthusiast an expert. I know what you are going to say. What about Agentic AI. Just build an Agent and turn it loose. Great, you are going to have to check the results. You are going to have to worry about where the agent got its information . Intelllectural property will be important in the future. Agentic AI is a great way to steal intellectual property. So a lot of lawyers are going to be working over time. If Americans want to compete in the coming century they should build better colleges and universities.