There are a lot of things Americans don't agree on these days. In fact, many of these disagreements run so deep the prospect of a second Civil War doesn't seem that far-fetched. Of course, some pessimists were also saying the same thing back in the 1960's, but no one actually took the doomsday prediction that seriously. Then once we got out of Vietnam and ran Nixon out of office, everyone settled down to more reasonable levels of discord. Now, however it feels different. In the 1960's we were all pissed off at each other. Now, we genuinely seem to hate many of our fellow Americans.
That being said, it is surprising and not just a little refreshing to find an issue that most Americans, no matter their politics, agree on. It isn't hard to figure out what it is, especially when even the amoral bastards developing it admit it could end life on the planet as we know it. That's right, even though AI has been described as in what is known as, "the frontier stage," no one trusts it. Why should we? It feels like every time we turn around there are reports of some AI program creeping out of its, "sandbox," and hacking into a rival system all on its own.
That's just the tip of the AI iceberg though. It isn't what a HAL-9000 might do tomorrow that angers and unites the left and right--at least mostly. It's what it takes to keep AI up and whirring along in their hometowns.
Indeed, according to an April 2026 Gallup poll, 75% of democrats and 74% of republicans oppose the construction of AI data centers. In an August 2026 RealClearPolitics poll 70% of Americans across the board oppose them. The main concern of those opposing their construction isn't the prospect of AI taking over the world--that came in third. The opposition is rooted more in the here and now, as in the staggering amounts of water and energy being consumed to keep these digital beasts running.
Copilot Search reports in 2024 data centers in the U.S. ate up 192 terawatt hours of electricity. For those not familiar with the term, a terawatt hour is equal to one trillion of watthours. 192 of them represented 4.7% of all the electricity produced in the United States. Estimates are, that if the AI greed heads get what they want, by 2030--not quite four years from now--data centers will consume up to 15.3% of America's generated electricity.
Can you say sky rocketing rate hikes? Not to mention possible rolling brown and black outs.
But wait. As they say on the TV ads, there is more. The same site says a medium-size data center uses up to 110million gallons of water per year to keep it all nice and cool. A hyperscale data center--like the one that is reportedly proposed for Yukon, OK--can use up to 528,000 gallons of water a day. 80% of that water is lost due to evaporation, the other 20% is flushed down the nearest wastewater system. That sort of usage in this part of the country is simply not sustainable--at least not as long as people are also living here.
As for the number of jobs added to the community because of a data center, it isn't that many. A medium-sized center typically employs 20 to 30 people. A Hyperscale center employs more, but how many depends on the level of automation and the size of the security staff. In short, any sort of economic growth gained by getting an AI data center next door isn't worth the drain on the power and water resources it creates.
All of which leads us to a rather large and potent case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) that unites both political parties. No one wants these things close to them and with the mid-term elections barely two months away they've become a political hot potato. No politician in his or her right mind wants to publicly support their construction. Even the Texas MAGA republican Governor, Greg Abbott is running fast and far from them.
However, as we all know, there is this one guy who hasn't been his right mind for quite some time. He wants to build the damned things all over the place. Yesterday, President Donald Trump posted this message on social media: "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. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame."
Ah yes, that's our man Don--always the diplomat.
Even Trump's Vice President, J.D. Vance had the brains to acknowledge reality. Yesterday, Vance told the media, "I think probably 99% of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and electricity for the people on the ground." It is unclear if Mr. Vance understands those, "areas," mean everyone everywhere a data center is built. But hey, at least he didn't tell millions of American voters, "If you don't embrace data centers, you want to be stupid and broke and it's all your fault," which is exactly what his boss just did.
Well, what should we expect from a testy old man who has become exasperated by the criticism he constantly gets. After all, he might not have fulfilled all his promises to the millions of rubes who voted for him--or actually any of them--but he certainly has and is to those tech billionaires who sat in the box seats at his second inauguration.
And let's admit it. To Donald J. Trump, other than himself, they're the only Americans who count.
9-1-26
