Trump tells opponents of data centres they want to be backwards and poor

Donald Trump has turned on communities resisting his administration's push for new data centres, telling them they're choosing to be "backwards and poor". The remark came as a MAGA congressman broke ranks to oppose the expansion.

According to Novara Media and the Mirror, Trump made the comment in response to local opposition to data centre developments across the United States. The Independent reports that the unnamed lawmaker described himself as "backwards and poor" in defiance of the presidential directive.

The phrase does political work. "Backwards" carries moral weight - it places resistance not as a choice about infrastructure or local impact, but as a character flaw. The implication is that opposition to the policy is opposition to progress itself, and that communities raising concerns about land use, energy demand or environmental cost are enemies of their own prosperity. It's a common move: reframe a planning dispute as a cultural marker, and the argument shifts from consequence to identity.

What to watch: whether the administration ties federal funding or permitting to data centre acceptance. If resistance becomes a test of loyalty rather than a negotiation over terms, the phrase will have done its work.