The Revolt Against AI Data Centers is EXPLODING

The episode examines the rapid spread of local resistance to large-scale AI data centers, framing it as a rare point of agreement between left- and right-leaning voices. Host John Johnston draws on recent public clashes, polling data, and utility decisions to show how communities are responding to projects that require enormous amounts of electricity and land.

Bipartisan Opposition in Practice

Recent exchanges illustrate the cross-spectrum character of the pushback. On Fox News, Tucker Carlson pressed Kevin O’Leary over a proposed data-center complex in Box Elder County, Utah, questioning the transfer of local decision-making to distant corporate interests and warning of surveillance-style infrastructure. O’Leary countered that county commissioners had voted unanimously for the project and that opposition reflected foreign influence. Local resident Gabby Finlayson and the firm Elevate Strategies publicly rejected the claim, stating they are Utah-based organizers with no external funding tied to China. On the other side of the spectrum, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced federal legislation for a temporary national moratorium, while Matt Walsh criticized the absence of any plan for workers displaced by AI-driven automation. A Gallup poll cited in the episode found roughly seven in ten Americans oppose new data centers near their homes, a figure consistent a