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 U.S. “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.”
According to Consumer Reports, at least 1,489 new data centers are currently being planned or are under construction in the US.
But with grassroots protests in communities in Wisconsin, Michigan, and other states, about 100 data center projects were cancelled last year “or hit major roadblocks, and the rate of cancellations has quadrupled since 2024,” said 350.org.
The group, like hundreds of others, has recently, called on Congress to pass a national moratorium on data center construction. Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) unveiled a bill in March to halt construction of the facilities. Last week, New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, signed an executive order imposing a one-year state-level ban on the construction of “hyperscale” data centers that can consume 50 megawatts of power.
“A moratorium isn’t about being anti-technology, it’s about refusing to let communities and ratepayers be steamrolled into deals that benefit billionaires while everyone else pays,” said Fortin. “Data centers are driving up our bills today and locking in fossil fuels for decades to come. That’s not innovation. That’s a bad deal being forced on every ratepayer in America.”
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