- Republican group to organize national day of protest against data centers
- Humans First aims to give grassroots Americans a voice in political surround data centers
- The growing opposition is bipartisan but is causing a rift between Trump and Republicans
US conservatives are organizing a national protest against what they describe as “the uncontrolled and unwanted expansion of AI data centers”.
Exclusive Axios reporting claims the Republican-aligned Humans First group is seeking to organize rallies in 13 locations in Georgia, California, Texas, Florida and Virginia.
The group says the protests will offer “grassroots Americans, especially grassroots conservatives, a voice in the critical policy debate surrounding the building of massive AI data centers”.
Tea Party to protest data center expansion
The Human First is led by Amy Kremer, a notable member of the Tea Party movement in 2009, a supporter of Donald Trump and a key figure in the group that organized the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally on January 6, which culminated in the Trump supporters’ attack on the US Capitol building.
“I was one of the earliest leaders of the Tea Party movement in 2009,” Kremer said in a statement, “and I can tell you that the disconnect between the elite and the grassroots that gave rise to the Tea Party movement can be seen today in the battle over AI data centers.”
Dissatisfaction over the rapid growth in data center construction – fueled by AI demand – has grown in the US, where many grassroots movements have delayed and canceled more than $130 billion worth of builds.
Many of the grassroots groups opposing data centers have been bipartisan and largely working-class, with other notable efforts from both Democratic and Republican representatives.
“In the spirit of the Tea Party, we are announcing a nationwide day of protest against the uncontrolled and unwanted expansion of AI data centers and the dangerous AI systems being built in them, to be held on Saturday, July 18,” Kremer said.
Humans First said in a statement Axios that the rallies are open to anyone who wants to oppose data centers, but the group was primarily focused on rallying conservative Americans.
What happened to the Chinese psyop?
Earlier in June, several senior Republican officials, backed by fossil fuel and cryptocurrency advocacy groups, sent an open letter calling on FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate evidence that the data center standoff was driven by “foreign influence campaigns targeting the development of artificial intelligence in the United States.”
The evidence provided in the letter pointed the finger at China, claiming that Chinese propaganda was being fed into “the environmental left” to help “hijack MAGA” to pass legislation opposing the construction of data centers.
OpenAI later revealed that it had deleted a number of accounts linked to social media influence campaigns organized by China, but stated that those campaigns had not gained any traction.
The wave of Republican opposition to data centers is likely to cause a rift in President Trump’s support base, where many support the president himself and his planned expansion of fossil fuel energy production, but oppose the rapid expansion of data centers and the growing negative sentiment around AI.
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