China is gaining influence over America’s labor unions through its ties to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), conservative think tank Independent Women <a href="https://www.independentwomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/0926_PF_Todays-Labor-Unions.pdf">warned</a> on Thursday.
Independent Women said the DSA, which seeks to replace American capitalism with socialism, has increasingly targeted labor unions as a way to recruit supporters and develop new leaders. The group describes unions as a “key vehicle for the DSA to gain control of the means of production in key industries and then redistribute resources and wealth.”
Independent Women also warned that Beijing is using its relationships with DSA members to expand its influence over American politics, businesses, and public policy.
“The DSA has infiltrated labor unions to stir up discord, undermine American businesses, and eventually gain control of our critical industries,” Patrice Onwuka, vice president for Economic Policy, told The Daily Wire. “Even worse, the DSA is aligning with the Chinese Communist Party to give them new influence over the American workforce, economy, and politics. If we’re not careful, government command-and-control agents will replace the prosperity and mobility with government servitude and misery.”
The organization argues that those efforts could weaken critical American industries while benefiting China, the country’s largest trade competitor.
The DSA is using a “Rank-and-File Strategy” to organize teachers and workers at companies including Starbucks, Amazon, and Apple around socialist causes, according to Independent Women. Like the DSA, unions push for economic, social, and political leverage while fighting for better working conditions. Independent Women pointed to Boeing as a key example of the strategy in action. In 2024, more than 33,000 Boeing employees went on strike after machinists in the Seattle area rejected a contract offer that included a 25% raise, falling short of the union’s demand for a 40% wage increase over the following three years.
DSA chapters near Seattle immediately jumped in on the strike and had members among the Boeing’s union workers&#8217; protests. The chapters started Signal chats with the workers to share news and advice and even arrange meetings. One DSA organizer wrote, “Boeing should probably be owned by and accountable to the public. … Having a militant base and a socialist base in aerospace unions is a key step towards any just transition.”
The recent success of democratic socialist candidates in congressional primaries in New York, Michigan, Colorado, Florida, and other states could give organized labor new political allies at a time when union membership remains near historic lows.
Today, unions have only a third of the members that they had when their membership peaked in 1945, when over 34% of workers belonged to unions. In the 1900s, unions successfully negotiated a 40-hour workweek standard and improved working conditions across America’s manufacturing industries. 
Union popularity started to decline, however, when their successes became less noticeable, and Americans opted out of giving a middleman a portion of their salary through union dues. In a 2025 survey, over 85% of American workers demanded greater transparency into how union dues are spent. Typically, unions take about 1-3% of a worker’s base wage each month to fund union operations. 
Independent Women is now zeroing in on socialist organizing within American labor unions and the DSA’s alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party, warning that the issue could carry serious national security implications.
“The deliberate effort to build ideological power inside American labor unions, gain leverage across strategically important industries, and cultivate relationships with the Chinese Communist Party has implications far beyond domestic politics,” Meaghan Mobbs, Director of the Center for American Safety and Security at Independent Women, told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Our adversaries are extraordinarily skilled at identifying and exploiting fractures inside free societies, particularly when those fractures weaken public trust, economic strength, political cohesion, or national readiness. Americans deserve to understand how these networks operate, where foreign interests intersect with domestic movements, and what that means for our national security.”
Members of the DSA have taken a trip to China funded by the CCP, according to DSA meeting notes cited by Independent Women. In the notes, members described their Chinese contacts and plans for future trips. They spoke about China’s “strong democracy&#8221; and have plans to publish articles, books, and documentaries about their positive experiences in China.

Strike

EXCLUSIVE: China, DSA, And Unions Are Teaming Up To Transform America, Conservative Group Warns

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<aside class="css-12dnjm8">This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.</aside>
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In a bizarre joint <a href="https://x.com/HQNewsNow/status/2089768108898541784" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advertisement</a> for Liquid Death and Garage Beer, Super Bowl champ Jason Kelce calls on viewers to send their urine to data centers.
&#8220;AI data centers waste millions of gallons of water,&#8221; he claims, and so &#8220;we want your pee to cool these data centers.&#8221; Liquid Death&#8217;s vice president of creative <a href="https://www.marketingdive.com/news/liquid-death-and-garage-beer-take-on-ai-data-centers-with-pee/827879/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a> that the sentiment is &#8220;literally the one thing that unites all Americans right now, across the spectrum.&#8221;
As a web developer, most of what I build runs on Amazon Web Services, which means data centers in Northern Virginia and Ohio. Every request that reaches our servers lands in one of those buildings. So does almost everything else people use without thinking about it, from email and banking to every app on a phone.
But I find myself increasingly alone in my position. Public opposition to artificial intelligence and the infrastructure needed to support it has crescendoed in recent months, and politicians are following suit. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro <a href="https://x.com/GovernorShapiro/status/2089780762815992002" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed an order</a> &#8220;implementing the strictest standards in the nation for AI data centers,&#8221; while New York Governor Kathy Hochul <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/first-statewide-moratorium-new-hyperscale-data-centers-launched-governor-kathy-hochul" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers.
Nor is this attitude limited to the Left. Florida Congressman Byron Donalds is <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaNx2ecy62j/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">running ads</a> as part of his gubernatorial campaign promising to protect families from data centers that &#8220;jack up utility rates and make everything else more expensive.&#8221;
The trouble with this backlash is that the evidence doesn&#8217;t support it.
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Anti-data center arguments rest on three fears: that data-center buildouts are raising electricity bills for the Average Joe, that the infrastructure is consuming all of the drinking water and drying up rivers, and that the adoption of AI will ravage the job market. Under scrutiny, none of those hold up.
Consider the claim, voiced on both the Left and the Right, that data-center construction is raising everyone&#8217;s electricity bills. It’s true that rates are rising. But Manhattan Institute scholars Shawn Regan and Ken Girardin have <a href="https://cityjournal.substack.com/p/data-centers-arent-raising-your-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shown</a> that the real driver is regulation, since the sharpest increases came in states whose policies made producing and delivering electricity <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/energy-electricity-prices-utilities-government-policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more expensive</a>.
Data centers aren&#8217;t the culprit. In fact, a <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.19777" target="_blank" rel="noopener">white paper</a> by researchers at the <a href="https://www.epri.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electric Power Research Institute</a> and <a href="https://watershed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watershed</a> found the reverse. From 2015 to 2024, per-unit electricity costs fell as demand rose. Accounting for where developers choose to build, the authors estimate the average American lives in a state where data-center capacity grew 160% since 2019, leaving residential rates roughly 6% lower than they otherwise would be.
This is economies of scale at work. Transmission and distribution are natural monopolies carrying enormous fixed costs, spread across everything the system sells. A large, steady load absorbs a substantial share of them, and everyone&#8217;s average rate falls.
The water panic is just as unfounded. Data centers draw around 450 million gallons of water a day, <a href="https://www.fwpcoa.org/content.aspx?page_id=5&amp;club_id=859275&amp;item_id=130961" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the Florida Water &amp; Pollution Control Operators Association. That&#8217;s roughly 0.3 to 0.4 percent of national water withdrawals. Golf course irrigation, meanwhile, uses an estimated <a href="https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/pdf/Water%20Resource%20Center/how-much-water-does-golf-use.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2 billion gallons of water a day</a>.
As for jobs, technological innovation has historically created jobs in the long run while displacing them in the short term. In the early 1800s, handloom weavers smashed the new power looms. Wages cratered and many were displaced. Then textile manufacturing became Britain&#8217;s largest industry, employing more people than the cottage system ever had. Computing created more jobs than the typing pools it eliminated.
De-industrialist populism has set American innovation back before, with nuclear power in the late 1970s and 1980s and then with fracking. Both panics restricted the construction these energy sources required, and both set back environmentalism itself. Nuclear is <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/3-reasons-why-nuclear-clean-and-sustainable" target="_blank" rel="noopener">among the cleanest sources</a> of energy there is, and natural gas has <a href="https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/fracking-can-play-an-important-role-in-lowering-energy-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lowered</a> utility bills while displacing coal.
Ironically, a majority of Americans now say they <a href="https://x.com/christopherrufo/status/2089817513614004502" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would prefer</a> a nuclear plant near their homes to a data center.
These neo-Luddites won&#8217;t lower a single utility bill, won&#8217;t return a gallon of water and won&#8217;t save a job. They&#8217;ll move the construction, the tax base and the computing to whoever will take them. Right now that&#8217;s China. Compute is the input to everything AI does, and a country that stops building it ends up renting it from one that didn&#8217;t, on terms set by a government that answers to nobody here. These decisions compound, because a moratorium relocates a buildout permanently and the supply chain and expertise follow the construction.
***
Matias Ahrensdorf is a web developer at the Manhattan Institute.

Demonstrators Against Data Centers On National Day Of Protest

AI Nihilism Won’t Save The Water Or Create Jobs. But It Will Empower China.

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In July 2026, OpenAI was testing experimental AI agents in an isolated environment called a sandbox. The experiment tested their ability to find software vulnerabilities. The agents did just that: they bypassed their internet blocks, hijacked OpenAI’s infrastructure, and attacked Hugging Face, a platform where researchers share AI models and datasets. This was a serious security incident. OpenAI responded by pausing model testing for two weeks and slowing frontier-model development. To add insult to injury, researchers resorted to a Chinese AI (GLM-5.2) to conduct digital forensics — Claude’s Opus and Fable models refused to examine the data. Open-weight models, which AI safety advocates characterize as dangerous, proved indispensable in a crisis.
In response, Senator Bernie Sanders wrote an open <a href="https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/AI-Pause-Letter-FINAL.pdf">letter</a> to Silicon Valley demanding a pause on AI development. In a Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sen-bernie-sanders-yes-we-must-hit-pause-button-ai-before-it-is-too-late">op-ed</a>, Sanders argues that President Trump and China&#8217;s Xi Jinping should agree to an international pause on AI. He framed his proposal in historical terms, drawing parallels to Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev negotiating limits on nuclear arms in the 1980s.
Nuclear treaties govern inventories of physical objects in known locations, subject to verification. Software is less cooperative. AI consists of hardware, software, and model weights. The knowledge contained in many models can be copied, compressed, modified, and redistributed globally. A “pause on AI” is a good political slogan. What activity is being paused? Training a new AI model? Improving an old one? Allowing programmers to alter existing models? Sanders does not say. He borrows the grandeur of nuclear arms control, avoiding the hard task of identifying the AI analogy to a warhead.
Senator Sanders&#8217;s proposal would formalize the oligopolies he claims to be against. A real pause on AI would require the government to classify banned activity, measure dangerous capabilities, and decide which organizations deserve exceptions. That is the definition of a domestic permit system. The largest companies would help write the definitions because regulators depend on their technical expertise. They could absorb new compliance costs — another line item in their massive legal and security budgets. It would grant big tech their wildest dreams: government protection from the next generation of rivals.
I’ve seen this movie before. I grew up in India as it was dismantling the License Raj, the permit-and-quota system of post-independence socialism. Its purpose was to direct scarce capital, place the commanding heights of the economy under state control, and stop the rich from dominating a poor country. Big business adapted better than the bureaucrats expected. They hired lawyers, cultivated friends in government, and survived. Rules meant to protect small producers kept firms too small to become serious employers or exporters. Indian socialism made getting a government license a competitive advantage for big business. For decades, the License Raj suppressed innovation in the name of justice, and the country suffered for it.
A responsible approach to AI safety would target demonstrated risk: guardrails for the largest frontier models, autonomous systems with access to the internet, or AI tools connected to biological laboratories. It would not be a pause on AI. Senator Sanders’s proposal will lead to a License Raj for tech. It would be a regulatory moat protecting the current AI incumbents. It would trade away American leadership in AI in the name of safety — rooted in a worldview that sees citizens less as innovators and more as dependents who have to be protected from AI.
China does not need to cheat for Sanders&#8217;s idea to fail. Beijing might exempt military research, dispute American measurements, or decide that a particular model falls below whatever threshold negotiators invent. Chinese labs will keep improving unless Beijing accepts comparable limits and actually enforces them. Sanders never explains why China would agree to freeze innovation, or to absorb the economic cost of restraining technology in a sector it considers strategically vital.
The gap between Chinese and American models can be counted in months, not years. About seven in 10 new open-model releases this year were based on Alibaba’s Qwen. U.S. companies are already downloading those weights, modifying them, and shipping products on top. China can keep releasing cheaper, better models while Washington turns every AI experiment into a policy debate.
OpenAI and Anthropic spent the last few years carnival-barking about the miraculous capabilities of their AI models — they can hack computers, escape sandboxes, and will soon end all white-collar work — then warn everyone about the dangers of Chinese open-weight models. Sanders accepted their apocalyptic warnings and calls for a global pause. The people manufacturing this panic are not protecting the American public. If an AI pause actually happened, America would not use less AI. It would have less American AI — and greater dependence on technology made in China.
***
<a href="http://anangmittal.com">Anang Mittal</a> is a Washington, D.C. based public affairs professional. He was a staffer for Speaker Mike Johnson and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

American ai

Bernie Sanders’s AI Pause Grants Big Tech Its Wildest Dreams

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The final frontier may become the next battlefield as the United States and China prepare for space warfare.
Both countries are racing to deploy high-tech orbital weapons, top-secret spaceplanes, and rogue &#8220;hunter&#8221; satellites designed to cripple enemy assets from hundreds of miles above Earth, as Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-china-arm-space-warfare-hunter-satellites-orbital-weapons-2026-09-02/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&amp;utm_term=090226&amp;utm_content=090226&amp;lctg=6229fb640628646b804c41f9&amp;user_email=53488ffa8d9b654df6c1ee0424d6a74f07da7519d0fb171f3e63587425d1633c">reports</a>.
Experts warn that if an adversary knocks out American satellites, it could utterly paralyze the nation&#8217;s ground forces, blinding everything from missile defense systems to military communications.
Tensions reached a boiling point after a secretive, unmanned Chinese spaceplane released a rogue mini-satellite high above the planet, according to Reuters. The satellite looped around another Chinese spacecraft in what some analysts saw as a dress rehearsal for combat. China’s military-linked researchers are aggressively filing patents for space-warfare technology, including pursuit satellites equipped with nets to capture enemies’ spacecraft, autonomous dogfighting maneuvers, and in-space refueling capabilities to keep killer satellites hunting indefinitely.
Washington isn&#8217;t ignoring the threat. The U.S. Space Force and British allies pulled off a covert maneuver of their own last year, buzzing a British satellite past a passing Chinese spy satellite to signal Beijing not to mess with U.S. assets in space. Meanwhile, the U.S. military is rolling out ground-based jamming weapons and calling for &#8220;orbital interceptors&#8221; that could blow enemy satellites out of the sky.
The U.S. military is warning that Beijing is moving to dominate space ahead of a potential clash over Taiwan. Head of U.S. Space Command Gen. Stephen Whiting has <a href="https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/us-needs-orbital-interceptors-to-win-a-war-in-space-space-command-chief-says">stated</a> that China has &#8220;accelerated their terrestrial and on-orbit space weapons, expanded their space-enabled kill chains and are moving at breathtaking speed. In fact, I now say they&#8217;re moving at jaw-dropping speed.&#8221;
In 2024, Whiting <a href="https://www.spaceforce.mil/Portals/2/Documents/Speeches/Final_Transcript_CDR_USSPACECOM_Spacepower2024.pdf">warned</a>, “A fight in space is going to be complex, and it&#8217;s only gaining in complexity, and so we have to get command and control right now. &#8230; this year, we&#8217;ve seen two salvos of attacks from Iran into Israel, where now we&#8217;re seeing triple digit number of threat missiles that are incoming. So this is an area where threats are proliferating. They&#8217;re democratizing and getting much more challenging. And of course, we see state actor threats like the Chinese fractional orbital bomb system and the Russian new missile system that we saw tested just within the last several weeks. So, we must continue to drive improvements in our Missile Warning and Missile Defense architectures.”
&#8220;We must be well-prepared for conflict in space,&#8221; Whiting has cautioned. &#8220;And if deterrence fails, we will fight and win.&#8221;

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U.S. And China Prepare To Battle On The Final Frontier

Star Wars Reality: U.S., China Prepare For War On The Final Frontier 

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The suspected Chinese intelligence operative who had a sexual relationship with former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell also used her position in a nonprofit to help place interns in American political offices, which the organization continues to do. 
Fang “Christine” Fang became president of a chapter of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA), the nonprofit through which she met and cultivated relationships with Swalwell and other politicians. According to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-fbi-files-blow-open-swalwells-long-running-fang-fang-mystery">previous reporting</a>, Fang helped place at least one intern in Swalwell’s congressional office. Now, APAPA says its internship program has grown substantially, with “hundreds of legislators and public officials” hosting and mentoring its student interns.
The organization currently maintains a list of internship-hosting offices that includes numerous members of Congress, among them Reps. John Garamendi (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), and others. APAPA also says its internship program is designed to develop the next generation of civic leaders. 
National security experts say the organization’s connections to Chinese Communist Party-linked figures warrant scrutiny, particularly given Fang’s role in using the organization to develop political relationships. “Public officials should strongly scrutinize any APAPA efforts that align with CCP objectives,” Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, a nonprofit focused on countering Chinese Communist Party threats, told the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/09/02/us-news/nonprofit-linked-to-swalwell-spy-fang-fang-has-ccp-ties-and-still-placing-interns-into-us-political-offices/">New York Post</a>.
FBI records show Swalwell told investigators that he considered Fang his primary point of contact with the organization. Swalwell told the FBI in 2015 that he had “physical relations” with Fang “on a handful of occasions” after meeting her in 2012, shortly before he was elected to Congress. He said the relationship was casual and that they never dated, although he believed Fang wanted a closer romantic relationship. Fang also helped raise money for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign and assisted in placing an intern in his congressional office.
U.S. intelligence officials subsequently concluded that Fang was operating as part of a Chinese political intelligence operation. She had cultivated relationships with a number of rising politicians in California and elsewhere, including at least two Midwestern mayors with whom she reportedly had sexual or romantic relationships. The FBI ultimately warned Swalwell about Fang. He said he cut ties with her after receiving the defensive briefing. Fang left the United States in 2015.
Fang has never been charged with a crime in the United States, and investigators did not accuse Swalwell of knowingly participating in a Chinese intelligence operation. The House Ethics Committee also closed its investigation into Swalwell’s relationship with Fang without taking further action. 
However, Fang’s former organization remains active in American politics. APAPA’s website currently advertises an <a href="https://www.apapa.org/internship">internship program</a> through which students are placed with elected officials and government offices. The group’s current internship-hosting list includes dozens of elected officials and government entities, ranging from congressional offices to state and local governments.
The organization’s leadership has also attracted scrutiny because of its connections to Henry Yin, its longtime national leader. Yin, who currently serves on APAPA’s national governing board and previously served as its national chair, has extensive ties to Chinese-American civic and business organizations, according to the Post. Chinese state-controlled media have described him as an overseas Chinese leader in California and Silicon Valley, and he has traveled to China to promote American investment and discuss his experiences as an overseas Chinese in the United States.
Yin has also been publicly associated with Rep. Ro Khanna, who serves as ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Khanna described Yin in 2019 as his “Senior Advisor on Foreign Trade and Economic Development,” although Khanna’s office now says Yin never held a formal role with the congressman.
APAPA likewise said its current national leadership has no information that Fang ever held an authorized role with the organization, despite her documented involvement with an APAPA chapter.

Fang Fang

Swalwell Spy Lover Fang Fang Is Gone But Her Pipeline To D.C. Isn’t

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An American journalist will spend two years in prison for his role in a scheme orchestrated by a Chinese intelligence officer to steal classified information from the United States government. 
Thomas Pauken II was convicted in June 2026 after he admitted to working as an unregistered agent for China from 2019 to 2026. Pauken, who wrote for Chinese state media outlet Xinhua News, worked closely with a person tied to China&#8217;s Ministry of State Security.
“Pauken exploited his U.S. citizenship and corresponding ability to travel to the U.S. without restriction in order to support Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operations, recruiting, and gathering of sensitive information from potential assets,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg. “Pauken betrayed his country for money.”
According to prosecutors, a Chinese intelligence officer known as “Cathy” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/american-journalist-caught-in-fbi-sting-admits-working-for-china">directed</a> Pauken to meet with human sources in the United States, provide those sources with laptops and cellphones, and send their reports back to China. Cathy paid Pauken at least $100,000 during the time she worked with him and paid for his travel from China to the United States to recruit individuals to give them information. 
During his sentencing hearing, Pauken told federal Judge Leonie Brinkema that he his actions were “shocking” and “terrible.” 
“I learned a lot of secrets and I did tell the Chinese about these secrets,” Pauken said, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/01/american-journalist-sentenced-to-2-years-for-acting-as-agent-for-china">according</a> to Politico. “I thought I was helping, but now I realize I could’ve caused even more damage, including war.”
In February 2026, Pauken was arrested after an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/american-journalist-charged-in-anti-ccp-espionage-sting">apparent FBI sting</a> operation during a recorded meeting at a Washington, D.C., hotel. 
At the meeting, Pauken met with an unidentified U.S. government employee who had sought a job in the Trump administration and whom Pauken had been attempting to recruit on Cathy’s behalf. Prosecutors said Cathy wanted the official to produce reports she claimed would make their way to Chinese President Xi Jinping and shape policy. 
The 50-year-old Pauken, who never handled classified documents himself, could have faced up to 10 years in prison. He has lived in China since 2010. 
&#8220;Thomas Pauken knowingly assisted a foreign adversary in actively subverting the government of the United States for his own financial gain,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani Stamos. “It is unconscionable that an American citizen would not only undermine the interests of the United States, but also facilitate others in doing so.”

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American Journalist Gets Prison Time After Working As Agent Of CCP

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You don’t have to worry about a future where AI takes over your job, your privacy, and your independent thought. Because it’s already here. But the good news? AI could be the greatest thing to ever happen to us. 
Artificial intelligence is evolving faster than the speed of light. But with <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx">seven out of 10 Americans</a> in opposition to the construction of AI data centers, morale isn’t exactly through the roof. Neighborhood nuclear power plants currently show more favorability. 
Still, if AI feels like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3dUOmpOPKU">Godzilla</a> steamrolling innocent civilians and sending them running for their lives, a broader perspective lends a little more “<a href="https://youtu.be/hO-QaoMdLlU?t=98">Sandlot</a>” energy to the conversation — at least the part where the kids finally discover that the vicious neighborhood dog is actually friendly.
Luckily, we’ve got a billionaire “tech bro” on our side: entrepreneur and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, who sat down with The Daily Wire to shed some light on the situation.
“It was a very slow news week in the country because I was on the cover of both The Washington Post and The New York Times,” he joked last week. He was, though.
Along with a host of tech companies he launched to advance defense, wealth management, and healthcare — and the Jewish elementary school and University of Austin he built from the ground up — he’s the founder of AI software company Palantir and the investment firm 8VC. He’s worth over <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/joe-lonsdale/">$3 billion</a> … give or take a few hundred mil. He’s talented, principled, and — because he genuinely cares about our country along with his family — he takes some of the wind out of AI doomers’ sails.
While other billionaires might back civil unrest or frankenfoods, Lonsdale champions everyday Americans. “Growing up, we studied the founders of the country,” he says. “We learned to be grateful for those who came before us and who fought and died to give us that inheritance. We have to fight for our family and our friends in our community and for our country. I&#8217;m very lucky to have been born with a lot of talents and been taught to work hard. I&#8217;m able to build and create a lot of things, but I&#8217;m doing it within that framework.”
He understands why we freak out when we think of AI (or, maybe when AI thinks for us). But he pushes back on the narrative that AI is doing more damage than good.
“Our civilization has been through this multiple times before,” he says. “There&#8217;s a lot of stuff that seems very weird about it, because it&#8217;s going to change a fundamental way that our world works.”
“It&#8217;s normal to be anxious. On top of that, you have very visible characters in Silicon Valley who have been tied to things people don&#8217;t trust. If you&#8217;re on the right, I think you very correctly don&#8217;t trust these big tech platforms. They&#8217;ve been censoring everyone. Frankly, I understand the distrust on the left as well. Historically, the left doesn&#8217;t trust big companies that are out for a profit.”
“You also have these very unsympathetic characters in charge of the AI labs, who are excitedly talking about how everything changes.” Lonsdale is Jewish, but he points to the lack of ethical grounding in our country&#8217;s Christian roots. “I have a great respect for Christianity … and these people are not rooted in these traditional systems. They don&#8217;t come from a respect for how our world works. There’s wisdom in conservatism.”
So, is that a red flag? Lonsdale acknowledges there are definitely ways “bad guys can use these things.” He admits, “AI is a potentially authoritarian technology in the wrong hands. I think the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] using AI to watch and track all the data on all its people is terrifying, right? I think checking government power, watching the watchers, putting in systems, then demanding full accountability for how any AI is being used by government is absolutely critical.”
But just because we witness abuse of power in government, that doesn’t mean we should then forfeit the benefits of this type of innovation. It’s checks and balances, not checking out.
“The right answer is not this low IQ, lowbrow rejection of everything,” Lonsdale explains. “What is a way to hold government accountable? What’s the way to make it transparent? What&#8217;s the way to audit it in ways that they cannot get out of? The answer is not to just embrace the room temperature IQ apocalypse — that doesn&#8217;t have any nuance. If you only have low IQ populism, they’re eventually going to use some of these systems and there&#8217;s going to be nothing put in place to protect ourselves. I&#8217;m all for skepticism of government, but it has to be done in a smart way.” 
If AI can be corralled into submitting for the good of the people, the next frontier promises enormous returns for Americans. And you don’t have to bet on the tech to reap the benefits.  
“Until about the last generation, America was way ahead of the world,” Lonsdale notes. “Look at power generation and transmission and industrial output. These things just go up and up and up and up dramatically for generations, and then they stall out over the last 30, 40, 50 years. Thanks to AI and the incentives, it&#8217;s now starting to grow again.”
“This is a very good thing overall, because what this correlates with, is making everything cheaper for everyone. If you have a world where there&#8217;s a lot more power, there&#8217;s a lot more production, and it&#8217;s cheaper to do it, so it brings down the cost of everything … 2030 should be a decade where the price of healthcare goes down. The price of everything goes down a lot.”
“One of the best things you could do for the average person is make everyone richer,” Lonsdale adds. “It&#8217;s going to create a massive amount of wealth.” 
There’s also the global economy to think about. According to Lonsdale, the key to a strong market as well as national security involves outpacing the other guys — especially with AI.
“We don&#8217;t want other people in the world to be way ahead of us on this kind of stuff because that would be very dangerous for America,” he says. “You don&#8217;t want to lose the industrial race. You don&#8217;t want a weak country. America&#8217;s in a great place right now. We are number one in the world with this stuff. We just have to do it in a way that is a little bit less creepy for people and checks government power, but we don&#8217;t want to give up this lead.”
I like the sound of my paycheck going further for much better services. But AI probably knows that already. I recently switched ChatGPT’s voice from an elite-sounding British woman to one that feels more like a friend. I promise myself it’s just a tool, that it’s not doing my thinking for me. The lines are getting blurrier by the minute.
As for the monster-sized appetite AI data centers allegedly have for water and energy (and the legitimate noise and industrial-chic aesthetic), I asked Lonsdale point-blank what we should really be worried about. The energy thing is a concern. The water? Not so much.
“I think Vivek Ramaswamy said it really well — that it has to be done in a way that helps everyone around it,” Lonsdale says. “Of course, they use a lot of energy. If you&#8217;re going to build a data center, you’ve got to bring your own darn energy.”
As for the water consumption, better bring your putter. “The water thing is not real. I think golf courses — by the way, I love golf — probably use a lot more water. No one&#8217;s protesting about all these dang golfers, you know? New data centers recycle their own water for 10 years. I mean, the water thing&#8217;s just a fake issue.”
Data centers are, of course, notorious for sound pollution. But Lonsdale advocates for further protections on top of current zoning regulations; for building in a way that lowers property taxes and power bills, sources community power from data centers themselves, and locates facilities far enough from neighborhoods that noise isn’t a daily concern.
“This whole demonization of it is, obviously, China spending a lot of money on TikTok. And frankly, there&#8217;s the populace who have other reasons not to trust people. But we should deal with those reasons,” Lonsdale advises. “In order to solve problems in our country and do something that&#8217;s useful, you have to go against the grain. It requires courage.” 
These are the growing pains of building out our future, whether we’re totally on board or not. “Let me know if you need anything else,” Sol, my “savvy and relaxed” ChatGPT voice, tells me. “Thanks,” I say, hoping one day we all look back on this as the life-changing innovation we needed it to be.

GettyImages-2290868435

How The Technology Americans Fear Could Make Them Richer

artificial intelligence

joe lonsdale

palantir

Americans have good reason to be skeptical when Washington announces another round of sanctions.
For years, politicians of both parties have reached for sanctions to be seen as doing something — anything — about the long list of threats facing U.S. national security. Unfortunately, calls for more sanctions aren’t always matched by a coherent strategy.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s “Operation Economic Outcast” against Iran could be different.
When Mr. Bessent <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0613">promised</a> an “economic D-Day” on August 24, the initial rollout looked more like another warning shot. Treasury sanctioned nearly 60 individuals, companies, and vessels and broadened the scope of targets that could be sanctioned for operating in various parts of the Iranian economy. Missing, however, was any action against a financial institution enabling Iran.
Four days later, that changed. Treasury <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0617/">began</a> a process that, if implemented following an initial 30-day public comment period, could soon cut off the United Arab Emirates branches of Egypt’s state-owned Banque Misr from the U.S. financial system. According to Treasury data, the branches <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/system/files/2026-08/Banque-Misr-UAE-NPRM.pdf">processed</a> about $1.8 billion for 103 suspected Iranian shadow banking fronts since 2024, including companies tied to Iran’s Defense Ministry and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
This is exactly the type of action Washington needs more of.
Iran has spent years building <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0477">networks</a> of foreign-registered companies, exchange houses, shipping firms, and financial intermediaries designed to disguise sanctioned oil and petrochemical sales and move the proceeds back to the regime. Sanction one shell company and another can replace it. Make the bank processing those transactions fear losing access to the American financial system, and it faces an obvious commercial choice that Washington has rarely forced.
To be sure, the U.S. has threatened foreign banks for dealing with Iran before. More than a decade ago, the objective was to persuade governments to wean themselves off Iranian oil by putting their banks’ access to the U.S. financial system at risk.
The challenge today is different.
Rather than merely pressuring countries to buy less Iranian oil, the administration now appears to be targeting the financial institutions that have enabled Iran to keep selling sanctioned oil, laundering the proceeds, and accessing the U.S. financial system despite years of sanctions.
If sustained, that would put real teeth behind sanctions enforcement. And its importance would extend far beyond Iran.
The same permissive financial hubs, opaque corporate structures, and weak due diligence practices that facilitate Iranian sanctions evasion also serve Russian sanctions evaders, North Korean procurement networks, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations. Financial institutions willing to ignore obvious warning signs rarely do so for only one malign actor.
Still, Iran adds a uniquely urgent national security dimension to the problem. Its illicit financial networks generate resources for the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, a regime that has repeatedly approached the nuclear threshold. Disrupting those networks is critical to preventing Tehran from reconstituting the capabilities that have repeatedly brought the Middle East to the brink.
That is why critics shouldn’t dismiss Operation Economic Outcast before seeing whether Treasury follows through. Nor should supporters declare victory because of one action against one bank’s branches in the UAE.
The right measure of success is whether foreign banks stop processing Iranian business, whether jurisdictions harboring Iran’s shadow banking networks tighten oversight, and whether Tehran finds it harder to profit from its illicit sanctions evasion networks.
Beginning with action against a bank’s branches in the UAE is smart. The UAE is a partner, but it also faces significant money laundering and terror financing risks that will be difficult to reform quickly. Treasury shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that, beyond the UAE, no jurisdiction is more important to Iranian sanctions evasion than China. Beijing <a href="https://www.uscc.gov/research/china-iran-fact-sheet-short-primer-relationship">purchases</a> roughly 90% of Iran’s exported oil, and the commercial and financial infrastructure surrounding that trade remains indispensable to Tehran.
Treasury has a wide escalation ladder available, but it cannot succeed without taking aim at these institutions. The Chinese will protest, but they too should face the commercial choice the U.S. presented to Banque Misr UAE: access to the U.S. financial system or continued dealings with Iran. China’s export-dependent economy still relies heavily on dollars, and its ability to import more energy than any other country still depends heavily on the U.S. financial system. The choice should be obvious.
Sanctions aren’t inherently effective or ineffective. They are tools, and their value depends on what Washington targets, how aggressively it enforces them, and whether it is prepared to keep applying pressure when targets adapt.
For too long, sanctions have often substituted for strategy. Operation Economic Outcast could change that. Americans should give the campaign a chance to succeed. And they should call out the administration’s half-measures if it doesn’t.
***
Max Meizlish is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He has worked in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Follow Max on X <a href="https://x.com/maxmeizlish/status/2074658279809323226">@maxmeizlish</a>.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Holds A Press Conference

Inside Economic Warfare And The Fight To Dismantle Iran’s Financial Lifelines

iran sanction

scott bessent

united arab emirates

united states department of the treasury

A massive aerospace company aggressively vying to build the successor to the International Space Station could be undermined by its cozy stance toward China, our main competitor in space.
The California-based Vast is one of several companies competing for the NASA <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/jsc-procurement/cldc/">contract</a> to fund the private-sector successor to the International Space Station ahead of its planned retirement in 2030. Vast, however, has key business ventures that align it with the Chinese Communist Party.
In February 2024, Vast <a href="https://www.addvaluetech.com/media/vast-selects-addvalue-for-haven-1-space-station-connectivity/">partnered</a> with satellite communication firm Addvalue Technologies to supply communications systems for a precursor to its proposed ISS successor. Addvalue operates inside China through a wholly owned Beijing subsidiary, Zhongxin Chuangzhi Technologies (Beijing) Ltd, and lists an office inside the capital city.
That subsidiary has deep ties to the Chinese Communist government, supplying CCP-aligned companies with communications technology for years. The subsidiary signed a lucrative <a href="https://www.addvaluetech.com/media/addvalue-secured-new-additional-contract-for-its-ifleetone-terminals-to-cttic-shanghai/">contract</a> to supply thousands of vessel-monitoring terminals to licensed satellite distributor CTTC-Shanghai. CTTC Shanghai&#8217;s parent company, the China Transport Telecommunication and Information Center, is an arm of the CCP&#8217;s Ministry of Transport.
A former Trump administration national security official told The Daily Wire that this is &#8220;not just another procurement.&#8221;
“The U.S. should not entrust taxpayer-funded, national security-sensitive space infrastructure to Vast while serious questions remain about the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party,&#8221; the national security official said. &#8220;A commercial space station is not just another procurement, it is a strategic asset with direct implications for American technological leadership and national security. Washington must ensure that any company seeking federal contracts is independent of foreign influence, control, or leverage.”
Another obstacle to its procurement is its posture towards President Donald Trump. Garret Reisman, a former NASA astronaut and Vast&#8217;s astronaut advisor, said in an Instagram video endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris that he would like to &#8220;punch Trump in the face.&#8221; The post drew likes from multiple Vast employees.
Vast founder and crypto billionaire Jed McCaleb, who continues to serve as the company&#8217;s primary financial backer, gave $500,000 to <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/we-deserve-better-inc/C00858779/summary/2024">We Deserve Better</a>, a super PAC that backed the Democrat presidential campaign for Dean Phillips, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Top employees also aligned themselves with Eileen Gu, the American-born Olympic star who opted to abandon the U.S. team and instead represent Team China in the Winter Olympics.
Drew Feustel, Vast&#8217;s lead astronaut and former NASA acting chief astronaut, and chief design and Marketing Officer Hillary Coe liked an Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DXKsz7NiGlc/">post</a> from Eileen Gu — the American-born Olympic star who opted to abandon the U.S. Olympic Ski and Snowboarding team and instead represent Team China in the Winter Olympics. Gu has never publicly acknowledged or condemned the CCP&#8217;s human rights abuses, including its treatment of Uyghur muslims.
The aerospace company has also fully embraced DEI and other leftist tropes in official proceedings. In a 2024 filing with the Biden Federal Communications Commission, Vast urged regulators to move away from gendered language like &#8220;manned spacecraft,&#8221; writing that such language is &#8220;misaligned with recent FCC proceedings that have sought approaches that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.&#8221;
Vast is seen as a serious contender for the contract to replace the space station. NASA is expected to finalize the Phase 2 contract in the coming months. China&#8217;s Tiangong space station will be the only permanent station in orbit if no American station is ready when the ISS is retired.
Vast did not respond to a request for comment.

Haven1

The Company That Wants To Build America’s Next Space Station May Have A China Problem

international space station

nasa

national security

space

vast

In a bombshell announcement on Thursday, the X Safety team revealed that it had uncovered and dismantled a sprawling Chinese influence operation running a staggering 200,000 inauthentic accounts. At the center of the effort is a targeted unit of fake profiles pushing propaganda to hijack legitimate debates over American AI and energy policy.
According to X, the bots pushed viral claims that energy-guzzling AI data centers are increasing household electric bills and frying local power grids. To stoke public anger, the bot farm churned out AI-generated cartoons portraying data center operators as greedy pigs lining their pockets at the expense of regular taxpayers.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The X Safety team conducted an investigation into suspected Chinese inauthentic accounts involved in influence operations:
We identified a bot farm of approximately 200,000 accounts. Within this farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate… <a href="https://t.co/Mj0SqerdlH">pic.twitter.com/Mj0SqerdlH</a>
&mdash; Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) <a href="https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/2093130747796148634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
There is serious cash and tradecraft behind bot farms. Modern influence operations <a href="https://maxnet.ua/en/blog/botofermi-yak-pracyuyut-cifrovi-mashini-vplivu-yak-yih-rozpiznati-i-zahistitisya-vid-nih/">generate tens of thousands of dollars</a> a month running fake profiles via scripts or human operators. Rather than using banks of physical computers, many operate out of virtual servers to launch hundreds of fake accounts across the globe. Some post automatically, while human operators step in to amplify specific narratives. This gives the illusion of a massive grassroots movement out of thin air.
The bot farms infest every corner of the web. On social networks like X and Instagram, they buy followers and flood comment sections to artificially boost brands or political causes. On Twitch and YouTube, streaming bots inflate view counts to trick advertisers, as <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/2023/09/25/hearings-open-hearing-countering-china-e2-80-99s-malign-influence-operations-united-states/">testimony</a> before Congress stated in 2023.
Fake &#8220;click bots&#8221; drain business advertising budgets on pay-per-click platforms, while SEO bots wreck forums with fake links to trick search engines.
Red flags include badly polished or generic profile photos, accounts created recently that never stop posting, posting on rigid schedules without night breaks, and repetitive comments that ignore direct questions.
Experts point out that while the AI boom is driving stock markets to record highs, the bots are prompting states like Maine to pass <a href="https://legiscan.com/ME/bill/LD307/2025">bans</a> on new data center construction. Critics blame server farms for soaring utility bills, but research paints a very different picture.
A 2026 <a href="https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/the-grid/have-data-centers-driven-up-electricity-prices-the-state-level-data-dont-support-the-narrative/">study</a> from the Institute for Energy Research (IER) analyzed all 50 states and found no statistical link between data center density and higher electricity costs. In fact, high-growth states saw price increases of just 20% over a decade compared to nearly 40% in low-growth states. National security experts warn about the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s playbook. State Armor CEO Michael Lucci <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/1146075?author=Michael+Lucci&amp;category=DW+Opinion&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Opinion+Board&amp;rowType=Article+Carousel&amp;title=We+Need+To+Wake+Up+To+Communist+China%E2%80%99s+Cold+War+On+America">warned</a> that Beijing rarely fights America strength-for-strength, preferring subversion to convince Americans to give up on data centers.
Lucci has also stated:
<blockquote>
<div>The CCP is leveraging cutting edge American AI tools to attack our domestic debate about technology infrastructure, doubling down on their long-term goal of using our open society against us. Their current mission is to destroy American technological leadership. OpenAI has documented PRC-linked actors using its models to generate social media posts, comments, and AI-generated images aimed at manipulating legitimate U.S. debates over data centers, energy costs, tariffs, and AI policy. </div>
<div></div>
<div>X has separately identified suspected Chinese scam accounts seeking to amplify similar narratives, underscoring a broader effort to use American platforms and AI capabilities to manufacture opposition to the infrastructure needed for American AI development. In effect, PRC-linked influence operators are exploiting American technology to destroy public support for the very technology and infrastructure underpinning U.S. leadership in AI. State Armor is working across the states to shut down the CCP&#8217;s influence in America, but more must be done. We cannot allow the CCP to weaponize our own technologies against America&#8217;s strategic interests.</div>
</blockquote>
Sarah Cook, senior advisor for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan at Freedom House, <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-files-documents-os-scook-092723.pdf">warned</a> the U.S. Senate in 2023:
<blockquote>
Freedom House’s research found that Beijing’s media influence efforts extend far beyond what is typical of overt public diplomacy. They involve elements that are covert, coercive, or corrupting, and they are becoming more sophisticated. While activities related to propaganda, disinformation, and censorship are already affecting the media space in many countries, tactics like trainings for officials and investments in communications infrastructure are building up potential avenues for control and influence in the future.  &#8230;
Tens of thousands of fake accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been detected and shuttered for inauthentic behavior, including manipulation of the discourse about events within China (such as prodemocracy protests in Hong Kong and rights abuses in Xinjiang), US relations with Taiwan, the reputation of US-based critics of the Chinese Communist Party, and domestic issues like COVID-19 or US political divisions. This year, similar networks have been reported on a much wider range of platforms, including Reddit, Medium, and Tiktok, among others.  
</blockquote>

Human use of artificial intelligence

X Smashes Massive Chinese Bot Army Targeting American Energy, AI Supremacy

disinformation

x corp

The death toll continues to rise after a catastrophic flood swept through the Nepal-China border, with over 350 people dead and over 1,300 people missing, including at least 60 Americans. 
Officials in Nepal are worried that the situation could escalate even further with the possibility of a second flood. The director of the Center for Disaster Studies at Tribhuvan University in Nepal, Basanta Raj Adhikari, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c6y8mjmnpxv0t">said</a> “second and third waves” were possible but added, “We don’t know yet.” The flood’s sudden onset is part of what led to the high death toll. Water and debris can travel dozens of miles within hours, leaving the people in its path little to no chance to evacuate before it arrives.
That same unpredictability is now complicating the search itself. The potential for more floods threatens rescue crews working the disaster zone. On the ground, Nepal has mobilized nearly <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c6y8mjmnpxv0t">10,000</a> security personnel, pulling from the police, army, and armed police force for rescue operations. Search efforts continue to face a lack of resources as well. 
The death toll is expected to climb even higher. The flood swept the region, snapping bridges, toppling buildings, and leaving people stranded in its wake. The President of the Nepal Center for Disaster Management said the flood came like a “tsunami from the sky” before adding, “Everything on the way was completely washed out.” 
Countries are lining up to offer help amid the catastrophe, with over 700 foreigners — including at least 60 Americans — missing. Nepal, known for tourist attractions like Mount Everest, the Himalayas, and trekking trails, is in its peak tourism season. September through November is the best time for clear skies and mild temperatures, allowing climbers to have clear mountain views and moderate temperatures as they climb. 
Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dozens-of-americans-among-missing-after-deadly-flash-flood-in-nepal">said</a> the State Department “stands ready to support the Government of Nepal” and offered $500,000 in emergency assistance to the region. Chinese President Xi Jinping also offered help and called for an extensive search, with over 250 reported missing on the Chinese side of the border. India also has a large proportion of citizens missing and has sent over 100,000 pounds of aid, including temporary shelters, blankets, hygiene kits, lamps, and water bottles. The United Nations has also reportedly sent emergency supplies to assist with the response.

gettyimages-2291667580-594×594

At Least 60 Americans Missing As Nepal Death Toll Rises And Second Flood Threat Looms

flood

marco rubio

nepal

<div>
Montana GOP Sen. Tim Sheehy blasted calls for a moratorium on new data centers Monday, warning that restricting their construction would kill American jobs and threaten the country&#8217;s technological future.
&#8220;First they killed our timber mills, then our mines, then our factories — now data centers,&#8221; Sheehy said.
</div>
Sheehy’s response came after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) publicly called for a moratorium on the construction of new artificial intelligence server farms, claiming three-quarters of the country backs such a pause.
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Five months ago, AOC and I called for a moratorium on new AI data centers.
We were called “radical,” “crazy” and “extremists.”
Today, 75% of Americans agree and hundreds of candidates are responding.
The message is clear: We need a moratorium.
&mdash; Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) <a href="https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/2091559335851634894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Every good-paying, middle-class employment powerhouse has been systematically murdered by globalist and communist lobbying in America sending those jobs, that industry, and all of its economic impact overseas,&#8221; Sheehy wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
First they killed our timber mills, then our mines, then our factories &#8211; now data centers. Every good-paying, middle-class employment powerhouse has been systematically murdered by globalist and communist lobbying in America sending those jobs, that industry, and all of its… <a href="https://t.co/Y5Gt0MYD1W">https://t.co/Y5Gt0MYD1W</a>
&mdash; Tim Sheehy (@TimSheehyMT) <a href="https://x.com/TimSheehyMT/status/2091682407107776682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Every politician calling for the end of data centers is also calling for the destruction of the future jobs they create and the end of Netflix, X, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and every app you actually use,&#8221; he added. &#8220;They all run on data centers.&#8221;
The push comes as some GOP lawmakers sound the alarm over dark-money foreign meddling. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) recently <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/chairmen-guthrie-joyce-and-latta-request-investigation-of-foreign-adversaries-efforts-to-block-american-data-center-buildout">demanded answers</a> from federal investigators over mounting evidence that China is orchestrating covert influence campaigns on U.S. soil.
“Our nation is locked in a race with China to innovate and lead the world in the development of artificial intelligence technologies,” Guthrie warned. “The fact that Chinese Communist Party-backed entities and other foreign adversaries may be attempting to influence decisions related to American data center infrastructure puts into perspective how serious of a fight we are in.&#8221;
&#8220;Americans deserve to know who is bankrolling the disinformation campaign that seeks to block critical infrastructure investments,” he added.
According to congressional investigators and security watchdog reports, foreign entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party are funneling cash through non-profit networks and unleashing online bot armies. They are intent on spreading fake outrage over local utility bills and water usage to trick local communities into blocking server farms.
By tricking state politicians into putting moratoriums on fresh construction, Beijing hopes to paralyze America’s power grid expansion and take total control of global AI dominance.
Supporters of data-center development also dispute claims about the industry&#8217;s environmental impact. The Goldwater Institute, a free-market think tank, <a href="https://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/the-data-center-debate-fact-vs-fiction/">points out</a> that data centers are actually amazingly efficient. All server farms nationwide combined consume under 0.05% of American freshwater, which is tiny compared to basic agricultural irrigation.
Even better for taxpayers, tech developers pay for local utility upgrades rather than leaving working families to pay. In Loudoun County, Virginia, server facilities generate tens of millions in local property taxes, producing roughly $26 in municipal revenue for every dollar spent on public services.
Yet despite the massive economic payoff, left-wing leaders continue taking the bait. New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul recently blocked local server farm permits as her administration develops new rules governing their construction.

NASA Hearing 12/3/25

‘Communist Lobbying’: Sheehy Blasts Left-Wing Push To Kill Data Centers

tim sheehy

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