SALINE TOWNSHIP, Mich.—Tech industry leaders gathered here on Monday for the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new data center dubbed “The Barn.” At 2.2 million square feet, the planned complex is slated to be one of the largest artificial intelligence data center construction projects anywhere in the world.
In attendance for its inauguration were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Related Co.’s Jeff Blau, and Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who all claimed The Barn will be a benefit to Michigan workers.
However, as many activists and critics pointed out in protest, the association between Whitmer and these figures—who are all vocal supporters of the Trump administration—raises serious questions about the evolution of the Michigan Democratic Party, particularly when one of its most notable faces has seemingly made a significant compromise with the MAGA regime.
Construction is proceeding despite massive resistance to the data centers throughout the state, and particularly in Saline Township, where People’s World reported on local dissatisfaction with the project—including on the part of the local government. The Barn was only approved after the township was sued for resisting; leaders caved rather than engage in a protracted and expensive legal battle.
When it comes to resisting corporate power and the far-right administration in D.C., the question is being asked in many corners of Michigan: Why has this apparent shift to complicity and even collaboration with Trump loyalists and big business emerged in the state’s Democratic Party? The recent spectacle of Whitmer at the ceremony in Saline Township was, in fact, a quite clear case study of why.
As several protesters of the data center pointed out, Whitmer’s support not only lends the construction and the tech companies authority, it also directly undermines the popular resistance and the mass distrust of the data center project.
Whitmer’s approval of the data center is based on promises of increased tax revenue and temporary construction jobs, per Bridge Michigan. However, the total of permanent jobs is likely to only number 450, and it is doubtful how many (if any) of the workers filling them will be sourced from Michigan.
This type of rhetoric is harmful to the long-term interests of working people in Michigan because it carries the veneer of protecting working families while simultaneously eroding their township’s local governance and labor power as a whole. If a company can undermine local government by simply suing it into compliance, what power is left to working people through the supposed “arm of justice”?
For many workers, all of this seems confusing at first glance and stands in stark contrast to Whitmer’s image as a stalwart against MAGA and its billionaire backers, which emerged from her time in office during the first Trump administration. Then, Whitmer’s leadership was seen as a beacon of anti-MAGA hope to many, proof that there were political leaders who wouldn’t go along with his agenda.
Many now see her support of the data center, against the desires of the township itself, as a betrayal and an about-face, casting her past symbolic heroism into stark contrast.
A more sober look, however, unveils that without a sustained, organized mass independent political movement led by working people, the centrist faction in the Democratic Party consistently slides to the right and lines up with the interests of big business.
In fact, absent this mass movement, in the early 2000s, many Democrats went along with the Republicans and supported Bush administration’s so-called “War on Terror,” the Patriot Act, and all of the falsification of reality that consumed that period of time. A little further back, to the 1990s under Bill Clinton, Democrats advanced anti-worker legislation, austerity measures against pensions, “welfare reform,” and other conservative, big business-oriented policies.
It’s starting to look like a similar story could now be playing out again in Michigan. This time, many see Whitmer’s endorsement of the data center at the behest of Big Tech and its MAGA billionaires as a preview of what’s to come.
Adopting the new Cold War rhetoric that’s embraced on a bipartisan basis in Washington, Whitmer has also adopted an increasingly nationalistic tone against China. At the groundbreaking event, she stated:
“We saw during the pandemic what happens when foreign companies control Michigan’s supply chain. We cannot afford to let other countries dominate future industries like AI, and in our interconnected world, we certainly can’t afford to let foreign adversaries have access to Michiganders’ data.”
Is this rhetoric not akin to the Trump administration’s tariff war and the anti-TikTok campaigns meant to shore up corporate control of the U.S. tech market? The fear that “foreigners” might have access to Americans’ data is overblown, many experts say, and plays into the hands of the foreign policy goals of MAGA.
The truth of the situation is that our data is already given directly to Big Tech companies, based in the U.S., to sell, exploit, and steal—as Meta, X (formerly Twitter), Google, Amazon, Apple, and the rest have been doing for years. Constructing a data center in Saline Township is not a resistance to the abuse of data, rather it merely aids the tech billionaires in controlling cyberspace and monitoring our lives in the service of profits.
Workers and their allies are rightfully paying attention. Protesters at the event were steadfast in their resistance to the data center, but they are being met with a concerted refusal to engage in good faith dialogue.
Nathan Kim, one of those demonstrating, told People’s World: “I was with a group of people that protested outside of the event,” but, he added, “security did not let us go inside.” This ensured that Whitmer and the Big Tech leaders heard no dissent as they made their speeches.
People across Michigan and the U.S. are speaking out, though. Per a recent Gallup poll, 7 in 10 Americans oppose data centers. In response to the township giving into corporate interests, the people of Saline issued recall petitions against three of members of their township board.
Many have pointed out that with the data center in Saline, corporate interests and their political representatives attempted to sell townspeople on the promise of billions of dollars in potential tax revenue. However, this promise is undercut by the tax breaks which such data centers also receive under Michigan law. They’ve been given an exemption to further exploit the region via elimination of the 6% sales tax as a result of Public Acts 181 and 207, both signed by Whitmer.
It is a political fact that centrists and liberals are profoundly interconnected with all of the present struggles of working people and often parts of the coalition fights against MAGA and corporate power. But without the working class leading and standing firm on public policy issues, these unsteady sometimes-allies can easily slide toward the right, as seen in Saline Township and on the national stage.
The way this data center came about absolutely betrays the peoples’ will. It also strips the local government of its sovereignty while simultaneously ignoring the demands and protests of the community most impacted by it. And when the local government gives in to corporate interests, it further strips the people of what little voice they have in the political system.
What is deeply needed is an organized, mass labor-led resistance that consolidates itself and struggles against not only this specific data center project but the overall rightward trend in U.S. politics. Fortunately, that movement is brewing and gaining steam each and every day, and the corporate world cannot contain it forever.
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views expressed here are those of the author.
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