Republicans ask Trump to ease off data centers; he stays married to one running 45 generators without permits.

…(cont) The tinkerer starts with the part that actually fits: the receipt out of Vineland, New Jersey. On August 27, a joint investigation by Floodlight and The Guardian flew a thermal drone over the Microsoft-backed DataOne facility and counted 45 generators running at once, no permits filed, a possible violation of the very law the planner just pulled off the shelf. The tool was built for exactly this — a facility burning fuel no agency signed off on.

The muscle goes after the excuse holding the whole structure up: the idea that a boom this size is simply outrunning the paperwork. On that same August 27, The Hill reported congressional Republicans were pumping the brakes on data centers ahead of the midterms, spooked by the same backlash that had just cost a councilman his seat. The White House didn't pump anything. By September, a Daily Caller writeup crediting the industry's staying power settled on a plainer description of the relationship: the president is, in the outlet's own words, married to data centers.

The pilot doesn't need a new law, a new agency, or a marriage counselor. The permitting authority already exists, already covers the exact generators the drone photographed, and applies whether or not the man in the Oval Office is fond of the bride. The recall proved voters can remove the local official who signs the tax break. It hasn't touched the federal desk that's supposed to sign — or refuse — the permit. That's not a gap in the law. That's a drawer standing wide open that nobody in Washington has bothered to reach into.