Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back at President Donald Trump's defense of data centers by suggesting one be built in Mar-a-Lago.
Data centers have become a political flashpoint in local elections across the country, and Trump has defended them while touting their benefits. Proponents praise their economic benefits and role in technological innovation, while critics warn of environmental impact.
Palm Beach County is one of many communities around the country that has pushed back against data center development. The Palm Beach County commission voted July 15 to block a 1-million-square-foot data center and later moved to issue a one-year moratorium on large-scale data centers, though the final vote will come Sept. 24.
The moratorium puts Trump's
hometown at odds with some of the president's statements in support of data centers and criticisms of the places fighting against them.
New York congresswoman jests about a data center at Mar-a-Lago
Ocasio-Cortez was responding to comments Trump made Aug. 31 defending data centers and criticizing communities pushing back on new developments.
"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign."
The New York Democrat was asked to respond to this comment.
"How about we put one in Mar-a-Lago? I love that. Let's put a data center up in Mar-a-Lago; we'll see how backwards and poor he is in response to that," Ocasio-Cortez told MeidasTouch's Pablo Manríquez on Aug. 31.
Data centers have received bipartisan pushback, despite Trump's repeated defense of them.
Trump has defended data centers in the past
Trump has previously defended data centers, touting their potential economic benefits.
After New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a one-year pause on data center construction in July, Trump took to Truth Social to call them "one of the biggest Driving Forces in the Future for Jobs ... They are big, strong, bold, and Money Machines for the State in which they are built."
The following week, Trump promoted his Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which 23 Republican governors signed, aiming to protect households from increased utility costs associated with data centers.
"You have to convince your community how great these things — You can't fight it, you have to go with it, and you're going to have all that protection," Trump said of data centers at the July 23 event. "You're going to make a tremendous amount of money, you're going to reduce taxes, and you're going to have something that, if you don't have it, everybody else wants it."
While speaking with his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, Trump raised the AI race with China.
"I'm letting them build their own power plants," Trump said in the interview taped Aug. 20. "Frankly, communities that don't take a data center, they're making a mistake because there's plenty of communities that want them. Because it means jobs, and it means tremendous tax revenue coming into the towns and cities that take them. So you know, it's like the smart ones are saying, 'I want them so badly.'"
Trump also told reporters Aug. 21 he will not hold it against a Republican candidate who opposes data centers, saying they may not be right for every location.
Contributing: Mike Diamond, Greta Cross, Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X (Twitter), Threads, Bluesky and TikTok.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: AOC responds to Trump's data center comments with Mar-a-Lago quip
