Securing American primacy in artificial intelligence has become a central aim of President Donald Trump’s second term. Washington’s objectives are clear: to preserve America’s lead in artificial intelligence, spread its preferred “AI stack”—the full set of chips, software, data and cloud infrastructure that make advanced systems work—and extend the country’s military, intelligence, and economic edge.

To achieve this, the Trump Administration and its allies in Silicon Valley argue for policies that prize innovation over regulation, and for a rapid buildout of the infrastructure AI requires: data centers, high-capacity power supplies, and fiber networks. Trump began this push on his first day back in the White House, when he rolled back the AI safety regulations and guardrails of the Biden era. The president’s July 2025 AI Action Plan presented a blueprint for achieving global AI dominance by accelerating AI innovation, cutting regulation, and taking a “build, baby, build” approach to AI infrastructure. And, in December, Trump signed an executive order designed to constrain the ability of states to regulate AI—including by threatening to deny federal funds to states with “the most onerous and excessive laws” that “threaten to stymie innovation.”

A significant segment of the American population opposes Trump’s laissez-faire approach, and the absence of broad popular support would threaten America’s quest for dominance in artificial intelligence. Popular opposition to data centers is likely the canary in the coal mine. Propelled by concerns about data centers driving up the price of electricity and water, and creating pollution, community resistance against data center construction is growing across the country. Politicians are taking note, with growing bipartisan calls for tech companies to pay their “fair share” of utility costs––including from the president himself. If 2026 proves to be the year of AI takeoff, the concerns of numerous Americans about its effects on our economy, politics, and human relationships could coalesce into a potent populist political force.

Until recently, policy debates around AI have been the preserve of wonks and technology specialists. That reality is changing as Americans begin to feel the early tremors of the coming AI earthquake: skyrocketing electricity bills, disappearing jobs, and mind-boggling applications such as Moltbook, a new social network where AI bots engage with and learn exclusively from one another.

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AI policy is ascending as a priority in American political discourse, particularly around........

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