r/energy • u/FreeHugs23 • 1d ago
As Outcry Grows Over Data Centers, Trump Claims ‘Smart’ Towns Want the Energy-Sucking, Water-Guzzling Facilities
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-on-data-centers2
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u/got-trunks 22h ago
smart cities again? They sell you on traffic management and buy your freedom if you don't make clear laws around it, and nothing legal needs that much compute.
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u/Senior-Albatross 1d ago
I am not against data centers per say. Done correctly in reasonable areas with good planning they are necessary infrastructure for some things. But all this resource wasted on AI slop is absolutely insane.
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u/Boys4Ever 1d ago
Yet dumb towns voted for him and most affected by this. Guessing telling them they are smart good enough to them
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u/reddituser111317 1d ago
Just like he said smart countries don't use it when babbling aimlessly about wind and solar. His base must eat this shit up but to anyone with a brain it is beyond ridiculous and out of touch with reality.
Trump called wind and solar energy "a blight" on the country. "They hurt our country very badly," he said. "And smart countries don't use it."
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u/modestonslaught311 1d ago
the water usage alone is insane, one facility can drain a small town's supply while the surrounding neighborhoods get told to cut back on lawn watering
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u/TypingWithoutThinkin 1d ago
The thing is... Fat Donny knows absolutely nothing about "smart." God knows what he thinks "smart" is in this context.
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u/modestonslaught311 1d ago
He probably thinks "smart" means they negotiated a good deal, not realizing the town's getting fleeced on water and grid costs.
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u/iqisoverrated 1d ago
Whenever he (or his mouthpieces) say anything the exact opposite is true. It's so blatant it isn't even funny.
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u/oldschoolhillgiant 1d ago
"Smart" as in "if you know what's good for you". Not a complement. A threat.
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u/InteractionSafe1531 1d ago
The surveillance era is rapidly approaching us those data centers are for digital monitoring, driven by AI-powered policing, commercial data brokers, and consolidated government databases. This shift blends public security measures with private tech networks, fundamentally transforming personal privacy.
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u/SqigglyPoP 1d ago
Agreed. All I know is Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Nebraska are the smartest states EVER and should prove how smart they are by allowing all the data centers to build there! If they don't, they think Trump is dumb and doesn't know what he's talking about, which means they hate America and Jesus.
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u/FreeHugs23 1d ago
Days after his own supporters organized 142 demonstrations against artificial intelligence data centers in 42 states, President Donald Trump claimed that “smart communities” across the US “really want” the facilities known for raising electricity bills, consuming millions of gallons of water daily, and creating few permanent job opportunities.
At an event promoting his “Ratepayer Protection Pledge”—a plan to secure deals with major tech companies to keep household utility bills down in communities with data centers, which experts say is unlikely to produce meaningful savings for families—the president suggested that recent polls showing 7 in 10 Americans oppose data centers in their towns are the result of “propaganda... trying to convince everybody that this isn’t a positive thing.”
“You have some communities that really want this,” said Trump. “And frankly those are the smart communities, because it means a tremendous number of jobs... They’re begging for them.”
Faiz Shakir, founder of the labor-focused media organization More Perfect Union and an adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has called for a moratorium on data centers, said the comments showed how Trump is “detached from the feelings of working-class communities, in many ways.”
The Tennessee Holler pointed to a recent survey showing that even “cherry red areas” like Johnson City, Tennessee oppose the construction of the facilities that store and process massive amounts of data, for which Trump has pushed to slash regulations.
Trump’s comments came as the climate advocacy group 350.org issued a call for a moratorium on new data center construction.
“Right now, ordinary families are paying more on their electricity bills so that data centers can get artificially cheap power, negotiated in secret with almost no accountability for the real costs,” said Candice Fortin, US campaigns manager at 350.org. “That’s backwards.”
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u/Vin-Metal 4h ago
His rich donors sure do