Much has been made of the growing internal battles within the Trump Administration between supporters of tech bros, such as Elon Musk, and those on the populist right who are slamming the tech industry, like Steve Bannon. These divisions came to a head as the U.S. Senate considered a 10-year moratorium on state AI legislation as part of the massive budget reconciliation bill, siding with Team Bannon in opposing such a ban.
These fights are particularly dangerous to the MAGA movement and not just because they sow political division. MAGA country is particularly well-positioned to reap the benefits of America’s golden age of AI, which will have a transformative and uplifting impact on all Americans who seize the opportunity.
Vice President J.D. Vance, the administration’s leader on tech policy, understands this, and his intervention may be the only thing that can bridge the growing divide.
In a seminal speech on March 18 about how AI should be integral to improving everyone’s lives, the Vice President said, “The history of innovation is that we tend to make people more productive, and then we increase their wages in the process.”
He also acknowledged the tension between “techno-optimists” and the “popular right” of President Trump’s coalition. The Vice President said, “This idea that tech-forward people and the populists are somehow invariably going to come to loggerheads is wrong.”
In other words, MAGA supporters, tech lovers, and innovators can get along, work, and thrive together, breaking down real and perceived barriers. That is, so long as the Musk and Bannon factions do not “invariably” fight.
Exhibit A for the benefits of AI tech investment and how it will uplift a large group of President Trump’s supporters—and other Americans—is Mississippi, where Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing $16 billion in two data centers. A total of 16 buildings are expected to be completed by 2027.
The original announcement in January 2024 called for an investment of $10 billion. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves termed that amount “record-shattering,” as it was the largest single capital investment in Mississippi’s history. He added that with the investment, “Mississippi is building a business climate that is ripe for further growth, especially in the technology sector.”
The benefits of this investment include the following:
– More than 1,000 well-paying jobs above $70,000;
– An additional 2,700 jobs at other Mississippi businesses to support AWS’s work in the state;
– Helping other Mississippi businesses gain the bandwidth to expand their AI work and research, making them more efficient and competitive;
– A $3.3 billion contribution to the annual gross domestic product in the state;
– The development of 650 megawatts of solar power in the state; and
– Contributions to numerous technical education programs at the state’s institutions of higher learning.
There are other major data center projects planned and up and running in Mississippi and the surrounding region. In December 2024, Meta announced a $10 billion project in Northeast Louisiana. Elon Musk’s xAI is investing $12 billion in a massive supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee. These and other projects account for $50 billion in investments within a 50-mile radius of Mississippi, Governor Reeves said on June 12.
Texas has also become a hub for large AI projects, as have Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Nebraska, and Arkansas.
For the record, though, tech companies do not make investment decisions of tens of billions of dollars based on the political ideology of a state. Roger Wehner, Economic Development Director for AWS, said, “We choose locations based on electricity availability; access to renewable power; redundant power; stability of the grid; proximity to an existing cluster of similar projects; and a welcoming community.” The location process is always arduous and highly competitive.
This brings us back to the populist tech bashers. It is one thing to raise concerns about a company’s or an industry’s practices, but it is reckless to demonize them. On June 2, Steve Bannon branded Big Tech the “most dangerous thing in the country” and has smeared tech leaders as “evil,” “sociopaths,” and “narcissists.”
Many folks in the heart of MAGA country disagree, and it would do Mr. Bannon some good to visit and talk with them.
Paul Steidler is a Senior Fellow with the Lexington Institute, a public policy think tank based in Arlington, Virginia.