Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Monday taunted President Donald Trump over data centers, saying he should have one at his Florida home if he’s serious about their benefits.
The New York Democrat was pressed on Trump’s recent assertion that “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.”
She replied, “Oh, I mean, how about we put one in Mar-a-Lago?”
“I love that,” Ocasio-Cortez told MeidasTouch’s Pablo Manriquez. “Let’s put a data center at Mar-a-Lago, and we’ll see how backwards and poor he is in response to that.”
Cloud South already operates a data center in Palm Beach, under 2 miles from Mar-a-Lago.
The exchange came as Ocasio-Cortez and other socialists have increasingly framed data center expansion as a battle between the rich and the poor. Corporations are ripping off locals with data center deals that make the wealthy even richer, fueling an oligarchic society, according to figures ranging from Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to Michigan Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed, who is backed by socialists.
Trump and other proponents have argued that data centers, which power artificial intelligence and the technology grid, bring economic benefits that trickle down to locals in the form of jobs, boosting the standard of living and enhancing national security against rivals such as China.
“If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social on Monday.
“The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame,” he added. “China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!”