BS BULLETIN:
- President Trump declared Monday that communities rejecting data centers risk becoming “backwards and poor,” arguing that America needs the facilities to win the artificial-intelligence race against China.
- Breaking Points host Krystal Ball fired back on X: “Install one next to Mar a lago and see how he likes it,” prompting critics to point out that data-center infrastructure already exists in the West Palm Beach area across the Intracoastal Waterway from Trump’s estate.
- There is an important distinction: the huge hyperscale AI project that recently generated enormous controversy in Palm Beach County was proposed roughly 16–20 miles west of Mar-a-Lago, and county commissioners rejected its expansion in July after fierce local opposition.
Krystal Ball thought she had an easy one.
Donald Trump spent Monday defending America’s rapidly expanding data-center industry against a growing bipartisan backlash.
“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”
Trump then brought China into it.
“If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame,” he wrote. “China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement.”
Enter Krystal Ball.
The Breaking Points host responded with seven words: “Install one next to Mar a lago and see how he likes it.”
Cue the Internet’s geography department.
Daily Caller editor Peter Hasson responded: “There’s a data center literally right across the bridge from Mar-a-Lago. Try again.”
Others piled on. “Maybe research before opening your mouth. There already is one,” one user wrote. Another claimed, “There’s one less than a mile away you dolt.”
That certainly makes for a delicious social-media dunk. The fuller story, however, is considerably more complicated.
Palm Beach County really has been ground zero for a major fight over precisely the sort of enormous AI facility Americans usually mean when they’re arguing about today’s data-center boom.
Project Tango was proposed as a massive hyperscale data-center development on more than 200 acres in western Palm Beach County.
The Guardian put the proposed site about 16 miles west of Mar-a-Lago; Bloomberg reported it at roughly 20 miles away.
And residents absolutely did not roll out the welcome mat. Opponents packed a marathon Palm Beach County Commission meeting in July, raising concerns about electricity consumption, water use, noise and higher utility bills.
After roughly 12 hours of debate, commissioners rejected the project’s proposed expansion 5-1.
One commissioner summed up the opposition rather simply: “It’s just not the right location for this type of technology.”
So Ball’s broader point — let’s see how Trump’s neighbors react when a giant AI facility comes to their backyard — has actually been tested.
They reacted. Loudly. But Trump isn’t backing away.
He argues that data centers mean investment, jobs, tax revenue and America’s ability to compete with China in artificial intelligence.
The White House has also gotten Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI to sign its Ratepayer Protection Pledge, under which the companies commit to securing additional power and paying infrastructure costs associated with their data centers rather than dumping those expenses onto residential customers.
Vice President JD Vance sounded considerably more sympathetic Monday to the public backlash. “I think probably 99 percent of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and higher electricity bills for the people on the ground,” Vance told reporters.
His proposed rule was straightforward: “If you build a data center, you should be putting power back into the grid, not taking it out.”
And now Ball has company. Asked Monday about Trump’s “backwards and poor” comment, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez independently reached for almost exactly the same joke.
“How about we put one in Mar-a-Lago?” AOC said.
Then she warmed to the idea. “Let’s put a data center up in Mar-a-Lago and we’ll see how backwards and poor he is in response to that.”
Which means Trump has managed to accomplish something rather impressive.
He got Krystal Ball and AOC independently pitching the same Palm Beach real-estate development.
MY QUICK TAKE
Krystal Ball’s line was begging for the response it got.
If you’re going to tell Trump, “Put one near Mar-a-Lago,” checking Google Maps first probably isn’t the craziest idea.
But let’s not oversell the dunk.
A normal existing data facility and a sprawling hyperscale AI complex sucking down hundreds of megawatts aren’t necessarily the same neighborhood experience.
And Palm Beach County residents recently demonstrated that distinction rather emphatically when they revolted against Project Tango.
The bigger political problem for Trump is that this isn’t neatly left versus right. People across the political spectrum are worried about electricity bills, water and what happens when enormous AI facilities arrive next door.
Trump says they’re America’s golden goose. His opponents say fine. Just put the goose in your backyard first.
DBS WIRE SOURCES
- Twitchy — Krystal Ball’s SMUG Anti-Trump Data Center Dunk Goes HORRIBLY, HILARIOUSLY Sideways
- The Washington Post — Trump says voters who oppose data centers will ‘kill the Golden Goose’
- The Guardian — A huge AI datacenter is planned near Mar-a-Lago. The Everglades could pay the price
- Bloomberg Law — Palm Beach Rejects Data Center Near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club
- Mediaite — JD Vance Gives Very Different Take On Data Centers When Pressed on Trump’s Latest Praise
