The President Now Decides Where Data Centers Go — and Profits From It

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is a Republican, and last week he halted 1,800 data center approvals in his state and told developers they had brought the backlash on themselves.

Communities that don't take a data center, they're making a mistake — Donald Trump

The president of his own party sees it differently.

And if you don’t take it, you’re going to be left behind because there are plenty of places that want it. — Donald Trump

That split is the wall the administration has spent a year trying to breach: 71% of Americans oppose a data center in their neighborhood, and the opposition was winning. ^[1] The breach came in July 2025, when Trump signed an executive order designating data centers as critical national security infrastructure — the legal lever that lets the buildout skip local zoning. ^[2] The concrete version arrived this month from Rep. Mark McCormick, a Georgia Republican on the Armed Services Committee, who proposed putting data centers on Fort Gordon, Fort Benning, and Fort Hunter — military land where no zoning board has jurisdiction. ^[3] The same move that breached the local wall put the entire buildout in one person's hands. And that person was trading Oracle stock while naming Oracle an anchor of the $500 billion Stargate initiative. ^[4][5] Ethics filings show he also holds stock in a semiconductor patent firm and a Bitcoin miner pivoting into data center power. ^[5] Before authorizing advanced AI chips the prior administration had blocked, he collected a $500 million investment from a member of the UAE royal family into a family crypto venture. ^[6][7] And he solicited donations of up to $50 million from the very companies building the data centers he controls — Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Palantir. ^[8] None of this proves the orders were issued to profit. What it establishes is the vulnerability: one person now decides where the buildout goes, and that person's money is in the builders. Voters have already drawn their own conclusion. Sixty-nine percent believe the president has inappropriately profited from his position. ^[9] Democrats in Georgia, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Utah are running on data center opposition and tying it to the president's enrichment. ^[10][11] Bernie Sanders has put the message in its bluntest form.

Why am I aiding these large corporations owned by the wealthiest people in the world who [couldn’t] care less about me? Let’s stand up. — Bernie Sanders

The most telling document comes from the president's own party. The National Republican Senatorial Committee's leaked memo calls data centers a political liability and warns that if Husted loses in Ohio, the party will take notice. ^[12]

More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck. If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one. — National Republican Senate Committee

That warning is the tell. The administration breached the local wall by removing the locals from the decision. What it got in return is a buildout that now carries one man's name — and his own party is the first to admit it.