During an interview that aired on this Friday's The Ingraham Angle on Fox, Trump downplayed warnings from Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who said that AI could kill all of us by the end of the decade, blamed opposition to data centers and AI on "Chinese PR" and basically called anyone that doesn't want one of these massive data centers in their backyard "stupid."
Way to insult you base, Trump.
INGRAHAM: AI — I know you've been focusing on this. Some top researchers at AI companies — one in particular from Anthropic — quit, saying that the people developing this know that within a decade they will have the power to, basically — talk about nuclear weapons — kill humanity off. So, to you...
TRUMP: What's interesting is Anthropic was the one that wanted to do that, and you know what happened with Anthropic two months ago. [CROSSTALK] They had to be reined in. And now, all of a sudden, they're goody two-shoes, as they say.
INGRAHAM: But the guardrails are in place, which I know you've talked about. What can you tell the American people, who see these headlines? What guardrails can be put in place so we can win the AI race against China, but still reassure the American people who are worried about data centers — it's become a big political issue — that we're on the right course and not endangering humanity?
TRUMP: So let's talk about Anthropic. They did something that was very bad three months ago, and we shut them down. We shut them down fast. We have guardrails.
The biggest guardrail is having people who are just as smart, because nobody understands this — except you have to be extremely high IQ. Not Joe Biden. You have to be extremely high IQ, and you have to see what's happening.
But the bottom line is, we're making strides in medicine right now. We're making strides in every business right now that would take, in many cases, a hundred years to reach. The kind of things that are coming out are incredible.
Now, we want guardrails, but there's a very fine line. China doesn't have guardrails, by the way. You know what China's guardrail is? President Xi. That's the guardrail. They don't have guardrails on anything. You can do anything in China.
We're competing with China. As you know, we're winning — we're winning against China with respect to AI. And you know the expression: whoever wins AI, wins. That's how big it is. It's bigger than the internet. It's bigger, probably, than the Industrial Revolution. It could be the biggest thing of all — we'll know in about a year — and it's mostly for the good.
You have to see what's happening in this country. We're building car plants, we're building everything, but we're building the AI plants — well, I'm not building them, but they're building them.
INGRAHAM: But the data centers are becoming — are you surprised—
TRUMP: Billions and billions — well, one second. There's so much talk about electricity and everything else. They're building their own electric plants, and the excess electricity goes into the grid. That was my idea, because there was no way — we couldn't take on this. They need extraordinary amounts of electricity, so I gave them the right to build. They become utilities — I gave them the right to build.
Every single one of them is building their own, so there's a lot of false narrative out there that they're hurting our electricity supply. It's just the opposite. They're building plants that are so superior to the guys who've been building plants their whole lives — you know, Con Edison and all these — and everything's fine.
But you have to see some of these new plants — because you're dealing with super-geniuses. They're building electrical plants. They supply their own water. They're doing everything.
INGRAHAM: So why don't people want them in their backyards?
TRUMP: Because somehow — I mean, a lot of people say it's China. A lot of people say it's a China PR effort. I just noticed—
INGRAHAM: Flooding social media with it.
TRUMP: Well, I noticed Google is building one now in Europe. I'm not happy about that. They're building one in Finland, and I'm saying, why are they building in Finland? We cannot be the stupid people who chase them out. If you look at communities where these plants open, the people are making a fortune — their houses are worth much more, the community's—
INGRAHAM: So your message to Americans...
TRUMP: Take a look at Loudoun County. Take a look at Loudoun County — it's booming.
INGRAHAM: So your message to Americans on this?
TRUMP: My message is: do what you want, but if you want to be poor, have no jobs, and watch other countries — or other states — do great... West Virginia has been very proactive. [The companies will] go other places.
If you want to make a lot of money — if you want to make a lot more money than you've ever made before — if you want to see your house go up in value, your education get better, I would suggest you...
Now, you use the word "guardrails." Put them in the right areas. But — you don't want to kill the golden goose, because that's what you'd be doing. You'd be killing the golden goose. This is the oil of the next fifty years, in many ways.
As Mediaite noted:
Trump has long been public about his support for data centers, telling Americans they will “end up being backwards and poor” without them in August, despite a July Fox News survey that found 70% of voters opposed to building one in their area, including 76% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans.
Not to mention, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten called data centers “electoral poison” last month in reference to the survey, pointing out that opposition also spans geographical divides, with 75% of rural voters and 63% of urban voters saying they do not want one built near them. Even among MAGA-identified Republicans — the group most supportive of data centers in the Fox poll — just 46% favored their construction nearby.
