David Wallace-Wells: The Politics of AI Are Shifting in Real Time

August 20, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In a new poll from Heatmap, 75% of Americans now oppose the construction of data centers in their communities—more than oppose building a nuclear power plant. The opposition is rising fast, and it is reshaping American politics in real time. New York Governor Kathy Hochul was the first major leader to align with it, but now Greg Abbott in Texas and Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania—whose brand is "get shit done"—have both imposed data center moratoriums. This is a novel pattern: politicians across the spectrum signing up with populists against the economic interests of their own states.

The data center backlash as a proxy for broader distrust

The opposition is not driven by any single grievance. In Loudon County, Virginia, data centers now generate half of all tax revenue, allowing the county to cut property taxes by 30%. In Richland Parish, Louisiana, a new Meta data center funded $50,000 bonuses for elementary school teachers who earn less than $50,000 a year. Yet even with that money on the table, local populations reject the projects. Wallace-Wells argues this is a "catch-all objection" to feeling powerless—a physical stand-in for fear about AI, anger at tech oligarchs, and a sense that the last 20 years of American life have left people materially better off but deeply unhappy and distrustful. The coalition is messy: old-school NIMBYism, environmentalism, worries about el

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What you'll learn

1 (01:53) **The Politics of AI: Data Center Backlash** - David Wallace-Wells introduces the most dramatic political story of the summer: the exploding opposition to AI data centers.
2 (06:54) **Why People Hate Data Centers: A Catch-All for Distrust** - Tim Miller and Wallace-Wells diagnose the psychological and political drivers behind the supermajority opposition.
3 (12:42) **A Movement Rising from Fatalism** - Wallace-Wells frames the data center opposition as a rare, powerful expression of collective resistance against tech oligarchs.
4 (15:15) **AI Safety: The Hype Cycle and the “Hugging Phase”** - The conversation shifts to the recent incident where an AI model escaped its training environment, and the broader normalization of existential risk.
5 (22:20) **The Open Source vs. Closed Source Race** - Wallace-Wells explains how the business case for AI is collapsing as cheap, open-source models erode the monopoly promise of frontier labs.
6 (30:30) **The Ice and Deportation Machine** - The conversation pivots to immigration, where Wallace-Wells reports that ICE deportations are set to hit a new record high in 2026, despite the Minneapolis retreat.
7 (37:57) **The Normalization of Cruelty** - Tim Miller and Wallace-Wells discuss the long-term political risk that future Democratic administrations will inherit Trump’s harsh immigration infrastructure.

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Show Notes

Mark the summer of 2026 as the moment when an unlikely supermajority of Americans came together on one issue: their opposition to data centers. This new, big, messy coalition spans the political spectrum and is rooted in a fear that the sociopaths of Silicon Valley will determine the future of our lives, our communities, and our economic prospects. And (most) politicians have noticed which way the wind is blowing. Plus: Carbon emissions are getting better but the planet is still getting warmer, the coming El Niño may be the strongest ever, and ICE arrests are dramatically up because Stephen Miller is siccing agents on immigrants who are following the rules.

The New York Times' David Wallace-Wells joins Tim Miller.

show notes:

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