Trump Is Making It Impossible
President Trump has made it impossible for Republicans to seize on a relatively easy, bipartisan issue that could help them win over voters in the midterms if they spoke about it in the right way. As he espouses bombastic rhetoric about how only “poor and backwards” people oppose data center construction, Republicans have struggled with how exactly to cross him on the matter.
American opposition to data center construction in their communities is one of the only issues that voters across the political spectrum can agree on at the moment. TPM has been tracking the bipartisan outrage aimed at the tech industry’s attempts to expand this construction boom in rural and urban communities around the nation. A May Gallup poll found that more than 70% of Americans are anti-data center, primarily because of their fears about tech companies coming in to their towns and building facilities that drain local water and energy resources, all for the purpose of expanding the capabilities of artificial intelligence that could eventually be used to strip human Americans of their jobs.
The backlash is simple, relatable and widespread enough that some Republicans — including anti-regulation Republicans who have embraced accelerated AI development — are attempting to message around data center differently heading into the midterms given how universal fears are among voters. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, has, at least temporarily, blocked new data center projects from connecting to the state’s power grid. After extending an open invitation to tech companies to come and build in Texas, Abbott softened his stance amid mounting voter backlash about rising energy costs tied to the projects.
Trump has made any attempt at nuance nearly impossible for members of his party facing reelection. He’s paid back the tech company executives who donated to his inauguration and funded his White House ballroom by using his second term to push for unregulated AI expansion and is even pushing new rules that make it more difficult for local governments to get public input on data center construction.
Earlier this week, the president planted himself firmly in alignment with Big Tech interests by suggesting only communities that want to be “poor and backwards” should be opposed to the construction of the facilities and the natural gas plants that run them.
Likely recognizing the vulnerable opening Trump created with his hard line on the matter, Vice President JD Vance tried to dial that back a bit, suggesting that tech companies should “be putting power back into the grid” in the communities where they’re building. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) tried to do something similar on Monday.
“These entities need to be self-sufficient,” Thune told a local South Dakota TV station. “They ought to be able to take care of their own utilities, their own power, and that ought to be a given any place they go in the country. But they shouldn’t be going places where there isn’t support for them at the local level.”
The Trump administration has, reportedly, tried to press data center developers to sign a pledge that they will try to keep electricity costs in check in the communities where they’re doing construction. But you wouldn’t know it from Trump’s rhetoric. It appears that both Thune and Vance are trying to give vulnerable Republicans a reasonable message to voters on an issue that could be an easy win — if Trump cared about Republicans winning the midterms more than maintaining the Big Tech oligarchy he’s enabled.
No One Wants to Go to Trump’s Fake Dallas Convention
The Republican Party is hosting a bizarre midterms convention in Dallas later this month in an event that will feature President Trump as the headlining speaker. He’s reportedly planning to use the moment to tout his perception of his record so far this term, in hopes that it will somehow bolster Republicans’ prospects in November (unclear how his cratering approval rating factors into all of this).
But the GOP convention in Dallas is not exactly something that Republicans are rushing to attend — and why would they? Trump has actively made it harder for Republicans to have anything concrete to campaign on this cycle, both in the data center realm, as I unpacked above, and also on other issues, like his obsession with the SAVE Act (and torpedoing easy wins while pressuring Congress to pass it).
Politico surveyed more than 70 Republican candidates and members of Congress to see if any were planning to attend. Most are not:
The 45 Republicans cited a variety of reasons for skipping the first midterm convention put on by a major party in more than four decades. Some cited prior obligations such as fundraisers or events in their districts that were planned before the convention was scheduled in June. Others had personal conflicts, like weddings and family events, and still others raised qualms about the five-figure-minimum fees that party officials want attending lawmakers to pony up.
And some Republicans in tough races are steering clear of the gathering — which has come to be called “Trump-a-palooza” in some GOP circles — as they face growing hesitation about associating themselves with the polarizing president so close to the election.
But Maybe They’ll Come to This
President Donald Trump is hosting vulnerable Republican incumbents facing tough re-election contests for dinner in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, according to a White House official with knowledge of the invitations.
The invitees include GOP lawmakers who are locked in competitive races this November, according to the official, who declined to provide a full list of the Republican attendees.
Here’s What Else You Should Read From TPM Today
Josh Kovensky has new details on the Trump administration’s use of a tool that Congress created in 2001, in the early days of the War on Terror, to investigate groups that oppose the Trump administration’s agenda: DHS Brings PATRIOT Act Tool to Bear in NSPM-7 Investigation
Emine Yücel has a new piece out today that outlines how Democrats have evolved on the issue of expanding the Supreme Court: What Democrats Have, and Haven’t, Said About Supreme Court Reform
“The destruction of a professional military has to rank among the most egregious and long-lasting of Trump II initiatives targeting government itself, along with his attacks on the merit-based civil service system, his abusive misuse of the Justice Department, his elimination of USAID, and his running roughshod over Congress’ power of the purse,” David Kurtz writes in today’s edition of Morning Memo: The Pentagon Purges Will Continue Until Morale Improves
Yesterday’s Top Story
AUDIO: Colorado GOP Gov. Nominee Tells Wild Exorcism Story About Fighting ‘Satan In Person’
What I’m Reading
ICE Plans to Pay $5 Million to Create National Voting Database
Tillis renews calls for Hegseth’s ouster
Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread