Republican leaders who fear that the furious, bipartisan backlash against AI data centers could cost their party in the midterm election are getting help from their loyal propagandists at Fox News. On its flagship morning show, the network’s hosts and contributors are attempting to convince viewers to support data centers by telling them that the “far left” is behind the opposition.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a private memo to top AI companies that “toxic views of U.S. data centers are killing the party's chances of holding a vital seat in Ohio,” Axios reported Wednesday morning. The memo, which Axios published, urges the AI companies to fix their “toxic brand” and suggests that if the GOP’s Senate candidate loses, “and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.” The NRSC further suggests that Republicans benefit when voters are told that Democratic opposition to data centers “will cause America to lose the AI race to China.”

Fox apparently got the message. Just hours after the Axios story was published, Fox & Friends ran a segment seeking to negatively polarize viewers against data center opposition by portraying it as a “culture war” position favored by the “far left.”

Guest co-host Griff Jenkins teased the discussion at the top of the 8 a.m. ET hour, saying: “Data centers are the backbone of the AI boom, and now a political target — why Democrats are turning them into the next culture war fight.”

Jenkins began the subsequent segment by airing remarks Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor offered Tuesday in issuing an executive order tightening the regulation of data centers, before commenting: “Gov. Josh Shapiro isn’t the only Democrat pushing back against the data center boom. Far-left members of their party make their battle against them a central part of the populist platform.”

As Jenkins spoke, Fox aired a graphic warning of “Dems Data Center Frenzy.”

Fox then aired comments criticizing data centers from three politicians the network regularly attacks: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. As they spoke, on-screen text read: “Far-left makes data centers latest populist target.”

Jenkins then asked, “Could turning AI data centers into the left's boogeyman put the race for AI dominance at risk?” He turned to Fox Business contributor Lou Basenese, who highlighted the “national security” implications and echoed the NRSC memo’s invocation of China.

After the pair agreed that “we’re in a race with China,” Jenkins asked if “the rising opposition to data centers in this country is one of the biggest threats to our development and achieving dominance.”

“China is building out capacity while the far left is building out opposition,” Basenese replied, before praising President Donald Trump’s support for data centers.

Such efforts to paint broad data center opposition as the work of the “far left” and warnings that China will be its beneficiary have become habitual in Fox Business’ coverage of the story. And with the issue’s rising salience in the midterm elections, as indicated by the NRSC memo, those arguments are now moving to the bigger GOP megaphone of Fox News.

But there’s a split on data centers among the right-wing commentariat, with prominent figures like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens criticizing them and even calling for local opposition to their construction.

And that means the Fox propaganda effort to portray opposition to data centers as a “far-left” position has some real limitations.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters