Republican Kentucky State Rep. Savannah Maddox criticized President Donald Trump‘s comment that “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. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”
Maddox wrote: “President Trump’s messaging around data centers is concerning to me, not just because I voted no on a data center bill, but because some of us WANT our rural communities to stay rural.”
Maddox continued: “Rural doesn’t mean ‘backwards and poor’ and development doesn’t always equate to being ‘successful and rich.’ President Trump wouldn’t be president without the rural voters who inhabit America’s heartland. It is not wrong of us to question the sudden and wide-scale effort to convert arable land into data centers. We are not stupid for wanting to protect our rural way of life.”
Maddox added, “Also, the United States has ~5,400 operational data centers and over 800 more under construction, while China operates ~400 facilities. Is this really a technology race with China, or is it an attempt to use government influence to line certain people’s pockets?”
President Trump’s messaging around data centers is concerning to me, not just because I voted no on a data center bill, but because some of us WANT our rural communities to stay rural.
Rural doesn’t mean “backwards and poor” and development doesn’t always equate to being… pic.twitter.com/nLrYdXzPyU
— Savannah Maddox (@SavannahLMaddox) August 31, 2026
When an X user replied to Maddox, “I’m not a fan of data centers, and I don’t like Trump’s messaging here. Keep in mind however, the Democrat party is not the old Democrat party. We let them get control again and we will have screwed our kids over badly,” the state representative replied, “Exactly, but messaging like this from the Oval Office has the potential to destroy us in midterms! Republicans need to push back.”
Maddox has criticized other conservatives for taking a similar stand on the necessity of data center proliferation, including media trainer and communications expert Beverly Hallberg, who wrote “we need to communicate this correctly to the American people.”
Maddox replied, “Who is ‘we?’ Who gave you (or whoever ‘we’ is) the burden of persuading the American people into supporting and promoting data centers?”
Who is “we?”
Who gave you (or whoever “we” is) the burden of persuading the American people into supporting and promoting data centers? https://t.co/KWespGo0gL
— Savannah Maddox (@SavannahLMaddox) August 22, 2026