Data Centers Are Turning Trump Voters into Democrats

(economist.com)

18 points | by karakoram a day ago ago

13 comments

  • simulator5g a day ago

    This is hilarious to me. Democrat messaging re: technology seems to be all about building new power plants (obviously for data centers). Republican messaging re: technology seems to be all about building data centers. They both have the same plan.

    • willy_k a day ago

      <Corporate> messaging.

    • cyanydeez a day ago

      yeah, and if one of them were literally nazis, it'd be such a hard choice.

      • simulator5g a day ago

        You mean the one that supports genocide or the other one that supports genocide?

        • Zigurd 13 hours ago

          "Both sides" is the rear guard tactic of losers.

  • karakoram a day ago
  • verdverm a day ago

    Well, that is certainly a headline you can write.

    The reality is closer to neither party delivering on promises, the growth of independents, and people picking something different each cycle, in the hope that maybe this new person will finally keep their word.

  • aurareturn a day ago

    I think being anti-data centers is like being anti-nuclear, anti-energy, and pro-deindustrialize stances that gripped Europe over the last 20-30 years.

    It's hard to think of anything better than data centers financed by big tech profits, profits that previously just went to buying back shares.

    Even if it all crashes, we all get cheap tokens and GPUs and memory, which will jump start more innovation.

    PS. This is my non-political opinion.

    • willy_k a day ago

      Most people aren’t anti-data centers, they’re anti-data centers that degrade their community yet are greenlit by bought local politicians anyway.

      • aurareturn 20 hours ago

        They don’t build the datacenters next to your house. They build it a little further out. It brings a ton of extremely high paying jobs.

        • disgruntledphd2 14 hours ago

          > It brings a ton of extremely high paying jobs.

          During construction, yes. Not afterwards. So all of the impacts on employment will be temporary.

        • willy_k 8 hours ago

          Maybe not, they definitely do want right of ways for power lines on people’s property though. And they use the classic eminent domain playbook to get at it. Specifically referencing power from/through West Virginia to NoVa.

          They offer a few security and telemaintenance jobs after construction.

    • kelseyfrog a day ago

      Wedge issues gonna wedge. As long as there's a way to separate voters on a topic, political parties are going to take advantage of it.