Trump gets spicy over data centers | Hour 3

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to the Pete calendar show.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. All right. So I am going to do a data center Tuesday podcast. look, but I'm going to connect it first to the prior discussion. Very simply. The commies don't want us to build data centers. Okay? They don't want us building them. They're building them, but they don't want us building them. Because if we build them, then we may have more of them, we may have more compute power, and then we would be able to basically write the rules for the technological age that we are entering and we are no doubt entering a different technological age. And that has people, uh, nervous, anxious about what's to come. I am among them. Oh, standard disclaimer. I love AI. I welcome them as our overlords. If they're ever going back and pulling up all of the records of everything ever said, I just want that on the record. Um, yeah, I don't know how it's going to shake out. Um, But I also know that whenever new technologies came online, there were people that were against them. And we have recent examples, particularly at a geopolitical level. I've made these analogies before. What we are seeing with the data center argument is very similar to what we saw with the fracking when that became available. And you had an entire sector of the left that wanted all the fracking shut down. And they had all of these fantastical claims about all of the ills of fracking. And we saw it with nuclear power generation as well, right? Because these are key sectors. Nuclear and the Soviets were behind a lot of that. And they would use the useful idiots in America that wanted to hamstring, you know, the imperialist capitalist project of America. And the best way to do that was to prevent us from producing more energy. which is now part of the discussion about data centers, because we have not built a new nuclear power plant in 40 years, 50 years, whatever it's been like a big, large scale one. Yes, we are building. There have been some modular units that have, that are in development and are making their way through the permitting. And the Trump administration has streamlined some of that process too, which is good, but we need more energy and you need more, more efficient energy. And right now, until we get to, what is it? Is it fusion or fission? We have fission. That's what nuclear is, right? Fission. Fusion is the, I think that's the holy grail, right? But the idea is like smaller amounts of the fuel that have far more energy stored inside those amounts. So the smaller the fuel and the more powerful, the more energy is packed into that that you can harness. Nuclear is superior to all of the others. And byproduct, it does not produce CO2, which is what everybody says we have to cut back on, except the trees and bushes. The trees and bushes, they love the CO2, but they do not have a powerful lobby, so screw them. So anyway, so the left has always attacked new technologies that could... yield America an advantage geopolitically. And that is also true with the data center issue. And it's why when the city of Charlotte had its public hearing on whether or not to implement a 150-day moratorium on new data center approvals, the chambers were packed with members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Now, I'm not just assuming that they were members of this Marxist club based on, you know, their general disheveled appearance or, I mean, I wasn't in the chamber, so I don't know if they smelled like patchouli or whatever, but I can say they wore T-shirts. They had signs. They proudly proclaimed that they are the party for socialism and liberation, okay? And they're against the data centers. Well, not all, hashtag not all data centers, right? They like the data centers apparently that they use to organize against data centers. Like right now I have my laptop open. I am using a data center. If you are listening on the live stream, not on the radio, radio uses a different technology, which by the way, people oppose that too. Man, there was a fight when they started to put them in cars also. Holy smokes. They're like, you can't put these things in cars. People are going to be distracted. They're going to be crashing everywhere. But you are using a data center if you're streaming this program, which thank you, by the way, for listening. I appreciate that. So now Donald Trump has weighed in on the data center stuff a couple times, actually. I believe I have. Do I have? Yeah, here it is. Let's see, do I have time to play it? It's a minute and a half. We can do this. Here's Donald Trump on the tarmac the other day, asked about data centers. Well, the data center subject to me is a pretty simple one. If you pick the right location, and it's got to be, not every location is perfect for it, but you pick the right location, what it means for a community is jobs and lots of money and lower taxes. And the data centers now are mandated by me that they build their own electricity. So they're not taking it for the grid. It's gonna lower the electric cost because they're building electricity. And the extra as an example, we talked about this one. I'm very proud of it. It was my idea. They're gonna build their own electric producing facility. And that electricity that they have left over is going to the grid. It's gonna lower the cost of electricity. So if I were a community, I would want the data center. It means jobs, it means income, and it means lower taxes. Do you want Republican candidates to take the same AI, take the same message on data center? No, I want them to do what they want. Some people feel differently. I really want them. If Republicans against the data center, that's okay with me. I'm only saying that if I ran a community, now there are different types of communities. But generally speaking, if I ran a community, if I was a mayor or if I was a governor in the state, I would want to have the data centers because they bring tremendous income. They're clean. They produce their own energy. The new ones are producing their own energy. I would want to have data centers. All right. How is it that this 70-something-year-old boomer can articulate that message better than, like, other people that are out there talking about this? Because he's correct. And then this prompted Democrats in the media, but I repeat myself, to be like, oh, let's put him in Mar-a-Lago then. Yeah, that's already been done. there's like half a dozen data centers within like half a mile of Mar-a-Lago. Like these things are literally all over the place. This is a, a complex issue. It is not like when people say dead data center, you first have to define what that term means to them. Because most people, when they talk about it, they don't have any idea. Or if they do have an idea, they think of the quote unquote hyperscale, the big ones, right? And they think that these huge ones are going to go in like right next door to their house. And so there's so much misinformation about the topic that is also being promulgated by China and Marxists. They would very much like us not to build any more data centers, as I said. Well, Donald Trump made those comments the other day. And then yesterday he put out a Truth Social post And this one got a little spicy. It's a little spicier. I will tell you what he said in a moment. All right. For over a year now, you've heard me talking about create a video. Great local company in Mint Hill that has helped more than 2 million families preserve their memories by turning old photos and VHS tapes, film reels, and slides into lasting keepsakes. Now, Creative Video is helping families and groups create brand new memories while they're traveling. Introducing group travel videos, perfect for family reunions, church mission trips, group vacations, destination weddings, student trips, senior adult groups, sports teams. I mean, really any gathering of people that you care about that's traveling together. 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Group Travel Videos, from old memories to new adventures, preserving life's moments for a lifetime. So I thought Donald Trump did a good job with that answer on the tarmac about the data centers. He points out it's got to be at the right location, and that's a key part of this, but that's a local thing, okay? That's a zoning issue. That's for your local city council or county commission, your planning board. That's for them to do the local zoning, right? So right location. He says it creates jobs, which it does. It has a minimal impact on infrastructure because it's not like you're putting in multifamily homes, right? You're not putting up apartments and townhomes and that sort of stuff. So you're not going to have a lot of traffic, right? But you will get infrastructure improvements like new roads built and sidewalks, curb and gutter, that sort of stuff around because that's part of the rezoning development. We have seen it lowers taxes because these things generate so much tax revenue for the local jurisdictions that they are then able to offset the tax burden on the local residents and businesses. And as Trump's data center pledge thing that he implemented, I think it was last year. Anyway, one of the things is like, if you're going to do one of these like quote unquote hyperscale projects, you got to make your own power, which the data centers are doing. And that's like the new generation of these things because they've been around for 30 years. So the new generations are building their own power supplies in various forms. There's also the Wall Street– oh, so this is what he said then. And this is a bit spicier. I kind of get the feeling like he's getting fed up with some of the doomerism around the data centers. He says the only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want data centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. All right. You did so well on the last one. He says if they want to be successful and rich with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let data reign. The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them. If we kill the golden goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti-data center movement. Actually, they can't believe it is happening. Actually, they can because they have been promoting it. They can believe it's happening because they are propagandizing against the data centers. I've already tracked this in previous episodes. I've tracked the money flow. We know this is occurring. If you all of a sudden woke up and you're complaining about data centers based on what you've seen on social media, and this is like a new position, a newly adopted position, that is a result of the propaganda. The Wall Street Journal now does a story about the backlash to the backlash. Get this. Nationwide resistance to the construction of data centers has grown so broad that politicians on both sides of the aisle have halted approvals or tightened oversight as midterm elections approach. Unions and construction trade groups are now entering the fray from the pro-data center side, warning that such actions endanger thousands of building-related jobs. They're threatening to withhold support of candidates opposing the data center project. So now the unions are weighing in and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're getting tons of work on these projects. We're going all over the country building this stuff. In some cases, by the way, it accounts for like a third of our GDP, just the construction of these things. In some cases, these groups are breaking with longtime political allies, Democrats, to support those who back construction. In a memo circulated to members and viewed by the Wall Street Journal, the Steamfitters Union, Local 602, whose members install mechanical piping systems in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC wrote that it is drawing a clear line and won't support politicians who oppose these facilities. Quote, this is an existential moment for the local 602. An existential moment. So what if the data centers get blocked, then your union dies. That's what they're saying. Hmm. So I wonder, Democrats, you're just going to make a clean break from your union base? I've said it before. I will say it again. We are witnessing a realignment of the political parties. Then there's this from Heat Map that looks at polling done by, well, they commissioned the poll, but Embold Research did the polling. And what their poll found, three-quarters of Americans now say they would oppose a new data center being built near where they live. More than six in ten Americans say they would strongly oppose such a proposal. So the propaganda campaign has worked. And it has been assisted by the general unattractiveness, let's say, of a lot of the tech moguls. They do not... Yeah, the way they talk and the things they say, it's just like, guys, you're not winning any converts over here. You're not helping. When you get out there and you talk about, oh, it's going to be great, we're going to destroy everybody's job with AI, like, do you think that's a winning message? Typical tech bro, am I right? Yes. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. On the text line, Judith from Alaska says, Keith, common mistake. I remember when the television was referred to as the green-eyed monster. It was going to send us to hell or make us go blind if we watched it. I guess I'm a bit older than you. I do remember, yeah, like, you can't watch, you know, TV too long and it'll rot your brain. Well, actually, that does, that one, That one kind of did turn out to be true. I kid the TV. I kid. 571 number says the ignorance around nuclear power amazes me. The fissionable material is nowhere near the concentration to actually be a bomb. Chernobyl was incompetent and dated technology known to be more risky than the designs we use and our reactors today are more efficient than the ones we have operating today. Also look at how Europe lost its energy independence when they shut down their nuclear reactors. That is correct. Here's another thing. Do you know we have nuclear reactors like all over the world? Like floating around. in a very, very tight compartment. And then we put a whole bunch of people in the compartment with them. And we submerge them to depths that can crush the hulls of weaker ships. They're called nuclear subs and they're all over the place. We have nuclear subs all over the place. And they are nuclear powered subs. We have this technology. It is being employed all over the place. If you're concerned about energy rates, build more energy production. Nuclear, preferably. Back to the poll from Mbold Research. This is by far the most negative response to the data center question since HeatMapPro started polling Americans about their receptiveness to data centers roughly a year ago. If you can think of a cohort of Americans, there's a good chance they would not welcome a data center in their area, which like I would need to know. See, I am I am hell on a on a polling call. Because they asked me a question and I like I know if I'm being push pulled, like if you're trying to induce an answer out of me. And so you ask me these questions like, would you oppose strongly oppose? Support, strongly support a data center in your area. I would say, well, what does in your area mean? Like, is it next door to me in my room? subdivision? Or is it like a mile away where one is literally being built right now? A very large one. I have no problem with it. I don't. I don't have any problem with it. It's a mile away. It's up the road. You know what was there before? Nothing. Sorry. Junk. people were dumping trash all over the place. So I don't have a problem with something going in there and cleaning it up and turning it into a taxable property. So they say the shift against the facilities is represented across age, gender, income, partisan ID, and the rural urban divide. Data centers are 43 points underwater with Republicans. 65 points underwater with independents, and 75 points underwater with Democrats. 75 points underwater. Notably, Local data centers are 63 points underwater with rural voters, a group that has skewed more Republican over the past decade. And by the way, this is why Republican politicians are now coming out in favor of moratoria or or bans altogether. Right. The politicians are going to go whichever way the public sentiment is blowing. that they're going to follow these polls. And if they see that the polls show their supporters are against data centers too, then they're going to be against data centers. That's how that works, right? They're going to say what the people want them to say. They're just following the public polling, which I'm old enough to remember. We didn't always want politicians that did that. But here we are. Populism, yay. Urban and suburban voters... are only a few points more supportive of the facilities. What's more remarkable is the pace of change. By the way, here's a question for you. Would you support a data center that would be located in an abandoned industrial site? Is that okay? Like you've got these brownfields, they call them, And the federal government gives a bunch of tax breaks for companies to come in because they've got to scoop out all the dirt. They've got to tear down everything. And you've got hazardous material, whatever. These Superfund sites. And they try to clean them up because they're just eyesores and they're hazardous, ground contamination, that kind of stuff. So would you be okay with a data center coming in and taking that property and rehabbing it and then building on that? Is that okay? Or just leave the industrial site? Um, how about a coal ash pit? A lot of people really mad about the coal ash pits. I mean, not always. They used to, we used to actually just take the coal ash and put it into concrete, but, um, they, they stopped doing that. I think in fact, like the, I believe it was the Asheville airport runway was built with that fly ash. They called it. Um, but then, you know, everybody's like, got to get rid of the coal ash pits. Cause the Dan river, remember the contamination when the, one of the coal ash pits, uh, one of the ponds or whatever failed and it leaked into the Dan River and everybody blamed Pat McCrory, like he went up there and sabotaged it, like blew it up in the middle of the night or something. And so how about that? You dig out the coal ash pit, you fill it all in, and then you build a data center on top of that. Would that be okay? I'm trying to find out by asking these questions, like what is the root of the oppositions? Why are people opposed to it? Because whenever you start talking about the individual issues associated with the data centers that people raise, like you can knock down with actual data, you can knock down virtually every argument that is presented unless you're getting into a fear-based argument. The fear-based arguments are about AIs flock cameras, right? Like that's the stuff that people are worried about. And they, they say, if we, if we shut down the data centers, then we won't have the, uh, the growth of AI. The AI is downstream of the data centers. In which case, then you're not really arguing against a data center. You're arguing against AI and, or you're arguing against the use, a specific use of AI, because like I could point out that AI was just used to develop a cancer vaccine. Does that matter? That's a good use of AI, but we're afraid of the abuses of AI. Okay. So now we're like constantly refining where the opposition legitimate, like legitimate, reasonable opposition is coming from. So that's why I do these stories on the data centers. Because I am an anti-commie. And the commies are trying to tell you something that is not true. And they are being successful. I shall now devote some time to the text line. Michelle, Pete, can you talk about what your opinion is on the water usage for these data centers? It's almost worse than the power usage. It is not. Actually, regarding the water, according to the data that we have available, U.S. data centers use a fraction. I've gone over these numbers before, but they use just a fraction of what, say, golf courses use or industrial uses. A lot of the numbers that people were citing like two years ago were actually off by about 100 times. A multiple of 100x. Wrong. Newer data centers use closed loop systems. So there is a difference between water use and water consumption. Right? So water use comes in. And the data center will take some of that water, which, by the way, they've got new tech that they're implementing, which is like a gel kind of a thing. So they don't even use water. But they've got water use coming in. And then it cools down their systems, evaporates, they collect it, and then send it back through. That's called a closed loop system. And it's recycling. And so that's what the new data centers are being built with because they want to cut down on their water consumption costs. They don't want to be using so much water and pay for that. So if they can recycle it and just keep using it over and over again, then they're going to save on their costs. And this is something that the local planners that give zoning approval, development approval, they can require this. States can require that this industrial facility, and that's what it is, has a closed loop water system. So it doesn't have the impact on the water, local water supply. Judith. Siri often misinterprets what I say. That's why you need better data centers. No, I'm kidding. I'm just kidding. The Hellion says there is a, a big vacuum in any explanation of the data centers they want now versus ones that already exist. Virginia already have well over 40. Yeah. North Carolina has 97 data centers already. And I went over these stats. Um, yeah, I went over these stats yesterday, I believe, or two days ago, um, where we've got, and we're like 13th in the nation. Um, Kirk says nuclear aircraft carriers as well. There you go. Um, dude, Oscar says they are building small nuclear power plants at military bases. I hear data centers and flock camera bands could unite America. Yeah, well that's, and that's what, uh, the politicians are seeing. Look at Ron DeSantis down in Florida. They just, He just ordered the removal of all the flock cameras because you got all the civil libertarians, more conservative types that are like, get rid of all the flock cameras. And then you got this data center crowd that is, it's more so on the left. But as I just went over with the polling numbers, it's across all demographics. The propaganda campaign has worked. I mean, you got to tip your cap to the tricoms who, again, They want us to stop building data centers and they want us hamstrung in the AI race because they would like to win it. They would prefer to be the leaders in AI so they can then have all of the supply chain sourcing, right? They can write the rules at a global level. And you have the advantages for military applications, right? So they want to be the leader. And if they can't beat us in a, in a, in a race, they can make, they can just convince us to stop running. And that's what they're doing. And this is a very old playbook and a lot of people are falling for it. Um, Scott says, in the 90s in my little town of Bessemer City, the citizens were in an uproar because a cell phone tower was going to be placed in town. No one wanted the ugly tower in the skyline. A few years later, when cell phones became more prevalent, they were all begging for the cell tower. Yeah, I remember the great cell tower debates. People didn't want those either. And then there was the 5G. I don't want those things. They kill all the birds, right? House of the Rising Sun, not written by Bob Dylan. Oh, please. Traditional folk song. Tony says, what about transforming all the abandoned malls into data centers? That's a good idea, right? You got all these malls that people aren't using anymore. Stick data centers in there. Rhett says, the Chernobyl reactor design had no containment structure as part of its original design. No U.S. reactor is anything like that design. Yeah. Yeah. People were were fed a bunch of propaganda against nuclear and we stopped building and Russia was very happy. All right. That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete Kaliner show dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.