Trump argued that data centers will make communities "successful and rich."
Page A11From§Eachthe supper edition — 31 August 2026
Trump goes all in on data centers under 'Let Data Reign,' as most Americans oppose them.
As it ran on the front
'Let Data Reign' is, I'll be honest, a genuinely good slogan, and the administration deserves credit for going all in on data centers instead of doing the usual Washington thing where you announce infrastructure and then spend four years permitting it. ABC ran the phrase straight in their headline. That's earned media. You don't buy that.
Is it controversial? Sure, the New York Post called it 'controversial' too, right there in their own headline, so we're not hiding the ball. Polling shows a majority of Americans oppose new data centers, which, fine, is also true, and also — I want to be precise — is not actually the same question as whether Americans oppose data centers existing somewhere, anywhere, theoretically, on the grid. Did I just talk myself into 'not in my backyard' as the defense? That's not — that's not where I meant to land.…
…(cont) Here's the actual case, and I'll make it plainly: the internet needs somewhere to live, artificial intelligence needs somewhere to live, and 'somewhere' was always going to make somebody's water bill go up and somebody's view worse. That's not a scandal, that's zoning. The administration going all in, per ABC, on a build-out that a majority of the country tells pollsters they oppose, per the Post, in the same week, is either extremely confident leadership or extremely confident in not needing the votes. I'd go with the first one. I would like the record to reflect I went with the first one.
What I won't do is pretend the polling doesn't exist, because it's sitting right there in the same news cycle as the announcement, which means somebody at the White House saw both numbers — the buildout number and the opposition number — and decided the buildout number mattered more. That's a call you get to make when you're not the one whose power bill funds the server farm. I said 'you' there. I meant 'they.' I need a minute.
The data centers get built either way. That much isn't in dispute. Whether anyone asked the neighborhood first — that part, the reporting is pretty clear on, and it isn't a yes.
“They call it 'Let Data Reign' like it's a coronation and not a construction permit for something most people polled don't want next door. When the majority says no and the answer is all in anyway, that's not leadership, that's just knowing you don't need their vote to break ground.”
“The polling asks about proximity, not principle — people aren't against data infrastructure, they're against the substation near their house, which is a zoning conversation, not a policy failure. The administration went all in because the internet has to live somewhere. Did I say has to? It has to live somewhere, that part's true.”
The receipts
“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,” the president wrote on Truth Social Monday.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.