President Donald Trump on Monday vigorously defended unpopular AI data centers, saying those who oppose the resource-sapping warehouses “want to end up being backwards and poor.”

“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,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “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!”

Trump’s post insults Americans’ intelligence in order to defend Big Tech, and it comes as polling shows bipartisan opposition to data centers. It’s a rare point of political alignment in these polarized times.

That opposition stems from how the data centers use considerable amounts of natural resources, drive up electricity costs for consumers, and bring less long-term economic benefit for their surrounding areas than tech companies often promise.

Earlier this month, National Republicans released a memo saying GOP candidates who defend data centers are in trouble over the issue, and suggested that Big Tech should run advertising to defend them or risk hardened opposition to data centers that power their AI models.

The memo specifically named Republican Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio as being negatively impacted by his support for data centers. It said that his reelection is imperiled due to the Democratic ad campaign highlighting Husted’s support for the issue.

Yet Husted hasn’t stopped simping for data centers, even as it hurts his campaign. On Monday, he appeared on NewsNation to extoll the virtues of data centers.

“There are literally communities in our state that have welcomed data centers who are seeing their local property taxes get cut dramatically as a result of the new revenue that comes in,” Husted said.

Ultimately, Trump’s full-throated support for data centers will test GOP voters’ opposition to the issue.

In the past, Republican voters have quickly adopted Trump’s positions on issues. But given that even many GOP voters are souring on their Dear Leader, it’s unclear whether they will change their minds.

A Fox News poll from July showed that a majority of every demographic group—including Republicans and MAGA Republicans—opposed the construction of a data center in their area. And responses to Trump’s Truth Social post show that his MAGA diehards are not taking his side this time.

At the end of the day, supporting data centers has become so politically toxic that Republican candidates and lawmakers are starting to come out against them. But given that Trump demands that GOP lawmakers adopt his views and defend his positions, Republicans could be forced to drop that opposition and defend data centers.

Leave it to Trump to take a position that could further imperil his party in the midterms.