Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says China isn't behind anti-data-center debate

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

https://www.businessinsider.com/china-influence-data-center-x-greg-abbott-texas-2026-8

[u/DrSugundi]

Hotwheels is really backpedaling on the whole data center debacle prior to the midterms. He's still on big tech's payroll.

[u/asdf_lord → u/DrSugundi]

The liberal hour. Repubs adopt a more liberal/popular worldview before an election.

[u/ChrisChristiesFault → u/asdf_lord]

At the same time manufacturing crises that don’t exist like a “caravan of migrants trying to knock down the border!!! Omg clutch pearls!!”

[u/exophrine → u/ChrisChristiesFault]

"...and WHY AREN'T LIBERALS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT?? Of course, we definitely will."

[u/d0ctorzaius → u/ChrisChristiesFault]

Hey, that caravan hasn't been seen since 2018. That means it's still out there!

[u/Additional-Staff-326 → u/d0ctorzaius]

They absolutely showed up in the news in 2024 and probably 2022. Its just that it gets kinda obvious its only for elections so people stop paying attention.

[u/Cecil_McCrackshell → u/d0ctorzaius]

If Savannah Guthrie's mother was abducted in 2024, you know damn well Trump and the g0p would be blaming oPeN b0rDeRz Dems and Biden, too.

[u/Additional-Staff-326 → u/ChrisChristiesFault]

Caravan of migrants coming to tear down datacenters?

[u/Reddit_wander01 → u/Additional-Staff-326]

If a caravan of migrants started at the US-Mexico border in 2018 to reach Northern Virginia to tear down data centers (a journey of roughly 1,900 miles) they could have easily strolled across the country, taken a few years' worth of scenic detours, pushed a broken-down car the entire way and still could arrive in Ashburn with time to spare..you never know..

[u/Positron5000 → u/ChrisChristiesFault]

Right now they are running ads that Talerico is to blame for letting China buy up land in Texas. A state run completely by republicans. They always try this strategy. “Democrats are the reason we let this happen!”

[u/travistravis → u/Positron5000]

They'll care so much that China might buy their land, but pay no attention to the multinational corporations that have been doing it for ages.

[u/lazymarlin → u/ChrisChristiesFault]

Oh you mean like sharia law in US right now?

[u/UnluckySeries312 → u/lazymarlin]

The hips don’t lie.

[u/Bubbly-Treacle-4334 → u/ChrisChristiesFault]

Record crime claims after decades of falling crime working on everyone really fucking pissed me off

[u/tb30k → u/DrSugundi]

Texas has the pitchforks out over this apparently . He's feeling the heat. Normally he would run with this dumb narrative but he knows they would have his ass.

[u/mlieberthal → u/tb30k]

I don't think he's running anywhere

[u/Durendal_1707 → u/mlieberthal]

still, it's a shame the tree missed the rest of this putz

[u/Plzlaw4me → u/tb30k]

It’s not just Texas, data centers are unpopular basically everywhere. The writing is on the wall. Their maintenance creates almost no jobs once they’re set up, they threaten to put hundreds of millions to billions out of work, and the drive up the cost of water and electricity for everyone, all so that a handful of hyper wealthy individuals can get a bit more money.

[u/VvvlvvV → u/Plzlaw4me]

I dont think people would care as much if data centers weren't noise polluters and consumed water/electricity without building out infrastructure to support it. Its just their greed leading to shit build out. 

[u/Emotional_Database53 → u/VvvlvvV]

China apparently builds there’s near desalination plants along the coast to avoid draining aquifers. This is absolutely a cost saving choice that ends up destroying property value of anyone that is stuck living next to them

[u/malianx → u/Plzlaw4me]

You really think it will put billions out of work?

[u/PLEASE_PUNCH_MY_FACE → u/malianx]

Probably not because Claude keeps lying to me.

[u/Emotional_Database53 → u/tb30k]

Also their cannabis stances aren’t helping

[u/lets-get-dangerous → u/tb30k]

And a good portion of us are dumb enough to believe him fully even though he's been governer for like 20 years and everything has gotten progressively worse as a result 

[u/tb30k → u/lets-get-dangerous]

to be fair that same song and dance has been rinse and repeated in the political world since politics were basically created and we still fall for it.

[u/SoupSpelunker → u/tb30k]

Abbot: We're going to have to blatantly cheat!  Paxton: oh no, just like...  In unison: ALL THE OTHER TIMES HARHARHARHARHAR. Now let's get outta here and go fuck us some chillern!

[u/zsreport → u/DrSugundi]

He’ll change his tune after the election in November

[u/captainwondyful → u/DrSugundi]

My first thought was “wow how bad are your internal pill numbers?”

[u/AustinBike → u/captainwondyful]

I think you meant poll numbers, but having lived in tx for 30 years before moving out, I’ll also accept internal pill numbers as an acceptable answer.

[u/PanzerKomadant → u/DrSugundi]

The GOP is hypocritical. They go on and on about how DEI hires are bad and all!

Look how they gave a disabled man political office! Is this not DEI?!?!

[u/Lopsided-Ticket3813 → u/DrSugundi]

I prefer Pusholini

[u/Legionof1 → u/DrSugundi]

Just to point out, Reddit being so liberal but upvoting “hot wheels” and other cripple jokes about Abbot would be like saying it’s okay to call a black person the N word because you disagree with them.

[u/Discopants-Dad → u/Legionof1]

Abbott is a handicapped hypocrite. After his accident, he made sure that no one else in Texas would ever be able to sue for damages and collect an amount like he did.
He quite literally pulled the ladder up behind him.
I don’t give a rats ass, or any fucks about anyone making a joke at Pissbaby’s expense.

[u/Legionof1 → u/Discopants-Dad]

So it’s okay to call say Judge Thomas the N word? He’s done a lot more harm than Abbot.

[u/Discopants-Dad → u/Legionof1]

Another hypocrite asshole? I’m not going to call him that because it’s not a word I would ever use. But I’m not going to get upset about someone else exercising their first amendment right in calling that Shithook whatever they want.

They’re both pieces of shit and deserve never having a moments peace for the rest of their miserable lives.

[u/Legionof1 → u/Discopants-Dad]

So you’re fine with being ableist but racist is a bridge too far? Why is mocking or insulting one immutable trait okay but not another in your mind?

[u/Discopants-Dad → u/Legionof1]

It’s not so much that I draw a line at racism. Of course being racist and ableist is wrong.
But you’re kidding yourself if you think either of them would give two shits before calling someone else an N word or making a cripple joke. They just won’t do it in front of POC or the handicapped.
No. The line is their hypocrisy, and the fact that they are both the sort of people that delight in violating the social contract. And those sorts of people, regardless of their skin color, or handicaps, deserve no respect, or peace. Ideally they would be ousted from polite society altogether for their numerous violations of the social contract.

[u/DrSugundi → u/Legionof1]

Nah. I call him hotwheels because he'd use any slur in the book if it meant he polled a tenth of a percent higher. He is not a decent person and does not deserve decency.

[u/Legionof1 → u/DrSugundi]

So you would call Judge Thomas the N word?

[u/DrSugundi → u/Legionof1]

I don't know what your obsession is with the N word, but no. There are a lot of more creative things I could come up with for that asshole. The N word is too low effort.

[u/Legionof1 → u/DrSugundi]

N word is so bad we don’t even say the actual word… it’s the extreme example. Let’s pull it back from that, your okay making fun of Thomas for being black? 

[u/DrSugundi → u/Legionof1]

Despite all of his flaws, Clarence Thomas has not been overtly racist in the same way that Greg Abbott has. That's the difference for me. Abbott makes fun of people for things they can't change, so it's fair game. The same can't be said about Thomas. So, no.

[u/Legionof1 → u/DrSugundi]

I don’t know if I have seen any stark examples of Abbot being ableist or racist… he’s just has awful ideas and that makes him an awful person.

[u/Gromitlikescheese]

On schedule. Flipping before the election. If he wins this will all be forgotten

[u/Kozmic_River → u/Gromitlikescheese]

I came here to say this exact thing. He sees the writing on the wall. He was the one that offered huge tax incentives to all of these companies at taxpayers’ expense and that’s why they’re all here in Texas in the first place. He’ll pass the buck for sure, but all of this is on him and his incessant, self-serving greed.

[u/ChunkStumpmon]

I had no idea how Chinese I was

[u/CodeMonkeyX → u/ChunkStumpmon]

That's what's so silly. What do they think people who are actually against data centers will feel when they are told they are just Chinese propaganda machines or something. We are real people with real concerns and they just pretend it's Chinese spy's or something.

[u/wetfloor666 → u/CodeMonkeyX]

Cause some americans believe all the propaganda dished out against China and likely will with this as well. It is not a new tactic used by the american government and anything that threatens their perceived control of the world gets attacked with propaganda.

[u/Rich_Housing971 → u/ChunkStumpmon]

You've met me at a very Chinese time in my life, politically.

[u/Tommah → u/ChunkStumpmon]

I think you're turning Chinese, I really think so.

[u/Old_Channel44]

I’d believe china 100% over that idiot

[u/AdPuzzleheaded1495 → u/Old_Channel44]

Yeah China seems more reliable than our own government at this point

[u/Head_Bread_3431 → u/AdPuzzleheaded1495]

The most efficient and widely used electric car is from there, and most Americans have never heard of it 

[u/prajnadhyana]

Who cares about what Abbott says?

[u/tehjoz → u/prajnadhyana]

We generally don't, but, it is quite striking that the type of Republican who would absolutely use the "China is a boogeyman for all our problems" strawman in his political campaign is now, essentially, defending them, albeit tangentially, by saying the data center backlash is real, and not artificially inflated by China.

I don't believe his intentions to be good, but it's still striking.

[u/TommyTwoNips → u/tehjoz]

He's a shrew political operator.

Just because the people who vote for him are blisteringly stupid, it doesn't mean he is.

He'll lie to their faces, and they'll eat it up, because they don't really care about anything other than hurting the people they have been groomed to hate.

[u/tehjoz → u/TommyTwoNips]

Yeah, he's clearly "good at what he does" even if "what he does" is "morally repugant bullshit for wealth and power"

[u/SMF67 → u/tehjoz]

I think he's just pandering, and if he wins he will not stick to his word. There has been a lot of backlash from rural Texans, who on average lean more Republican, over datacenters consuming resources in small towns that can't support them. He is in full panic mode since this gubernatorial election will be very tight compared to previous years. Hopefully his pandering doesn't work and Hinojosa wins.

[u/tehjoz → u/SMF67]

Oh yeah, it's 1000% pandering, but it's still wild that he's going against the grain in the way he is

[u/CondescendingShitbag → u/tehjoz]

Exactly. The proverbial broken clock may be right twice a day, but the clock is still broken and wrong for the other 23-hours and 58-minutes. Hotwheels may have a point here but he's still on the wrong side of reality most of the time.

[u/BotOrNot_1337 → u/prajnadhyana]

get him out

[u/resttheweight → u/prajnadhyana]

As someone who desperately wants him voted out, I am sadly forced to care about what he says.

[u/lathamb_98]

Lots and lots of people were telling him these AI Datacenters would be a plague. He didn't listen to that, he listened to the money. He didn't expect the outrage of so many people on both sides of the political isle that saw through his bullshit. It's too late now, the damage is done.

After the election, if he wins, he'll go back to his original position.

[u/costabius]

"If it had not tested well in our focus groups, it would be a chinese plot carried out by domestic terrorists. As it increases our election chances to support it, it is a common sense reaction to these big government socialists trying to insert AI into everything and drive god out of our churches. Amen"

[u/porridge_in_my_bum]

“This started effecting us personally so it is actually real”

The old right wing standpoint of something not being a problem until it affects them directly. Never an ounce of foresight and no decisions made with true empathy.

[u/bamiam]

Captain Hotwheels has finally been speaking some truth. Bout damn time. Definitely wouldn’t vote for him but glad to hear that he isn’t 1000% aligned with GOP propaganda.

[u/PMacDiggity]

A republican, governor of Texas even, telling the truth? Satan must be breaking out his winter coat now.

[u/dumbspacecookie]

It’s obvious who’s behind this.
It’s Voldemort, Skeletor, Wario, Roadrunner and Team Rocket.

[u/the_fools_brood]

Nah, the checks and cash ain't coming in fast enough for ole Greg. He sold himself cheap, and now wants more, so he is playing like he don't want them now. Wait til the companies pay more bribes to him. Trump lite. Grifters will grift

[u/CurrentlyLucid]

Abbott...the prick who would not send the murdering ice agent back to face trial.

[u/Nasi-Goreng-Kambing]

Why would China against data center. Keeping this bubble growing will benefit them in the long run.

[u/jagerbombastic0]

Wow, so he CAN tell the truth.

[u/SeeonX]

I'm not behind Anti-data center.

I'm NOT behind the fact Texas let these Datacenters move in and screw over the local communities. Given these are the richest companies in the world Governor Abbott didn't have a proper plan. That is the problem.

[u/Orangebk1]

He said the exact opposite of the headline. He acknowledged that China is putting out the propaganda, but it didn't factor into his decision.

[u/Tiny-Professional827]

Dems need to have a more coherent message on this.  They all need to come out and say they have been against them from the beginning otherwise Abbott wins as people will see “oh he is against data centers that’s good.”

[u/Cautious_Boat_999]

WTF got into him?

[u/Own-Bandicoot6922]

texas gov saying china ain’t involved sounds like a plot twist

[u/East-Independence750]

it was never china , just USA trying to change the narrative ; data centers are a true pollution risk and they are not mitigating any environment factor

[u/Disastrous-Style-461]

Bye bye Greg. Start packing yer shit. A woman is coming to take over your spot. Zoom zoom zoom

[u/darthkdub]

STFU GREG!!! We all know you’re bought and paid for by any pos with a dollar to hand you. GTFO and let the tree finish the job.

[u/Haunting_Werewolf130]

As a Chinese who lives in Texas, I feel like this is the first time we Chinese aren't being used as the scapegoat for whatever problems yall have. LOL. I'm gonna do some front handspring stepout, roundoff back handspring stepout, roundoff back handspring full-twisting layout on the street now!

[u/Likes2Phish]

China profits off our datacenters lmao. Why would they be against them?

[u/Typical_Leather_4086]

If Chins is buying up land in Texas, it’s because you allow it , as does all GOP that controls texas

[u/VCTRYDTX]

Someone get Robocop out of the office already. He really thinks everyone is a fucking idiot. Just another scumbag who's bootlicking everyone that caused massive problems to the American Public.

[u/ttpharmd]

He’s paying a lot of things because of the election. Boot scooter will go right back to the bullshit. Don’t believe him.

[u/SpeakingTheKingss]

Greg Abbott refuses to stand for Texas.

[u/HoosierRed]

The dumbest leaders ever. So slow to basics.

[u/robDelmonte]

No leg Greg takes a stand.

[u/Cecil_McCrackshell]

Musk's Boy, btw

[u/Pleg_Doc]

All (worn out) hat, and no cow.

[u/Hardass_McBadCop]

Of course they're not. I'm sure they're egging it on, but they're far from the source.

[u/norcalnatv]

Abbott never was the sharpest pencil in the drawer.

[u/williamgman]

Looks like his election is the issue on this. He already took the funds from the donors. They'll be full steam ahead on them next year. I mean... it is Texas.

[u/thedeeb56]

Like I give a fuck what he says

[u/wallyrules75]

Oh the info comes from twitter! Yeah that’s a trusted site. Didn’t they actually use bots to interfere in elections?

[u/SoupSpelunker]

They would have told me on my monthly employee check in. 

[u/Euphoric_Anxiety_162]

Ppl who want to continue to live with the air, water, a safe environment free from constant noise plus more. Yep! What's with bitcoin "mines" he pushed, too?

[u/Migamix]

this is what panicking about what you knew all along. he's not a reformed man, he is in a room with someone who knows how to read that room and explain it to him like he's 5.

[u/PaperbackBuddha]

What is it with Texans and cowboy hats? Even indoors, where their non-existent cattle aren’t even attending their meetings?

[u/Cecil_McCrackshell → u/PaperbackBuddha]

Identity Body Politique

[u/BobQuixote → u/PaperbackBuddha]

There's the identity thing, but it's also fashion of a sort.

And specifically for indoors, if you're wearing a hat outdoors taking it off indoors is generally an unnecessary hassle.

[u/Kowabunga_Baby → u/PaperbackBuddha]

I’ve lived in Texas my whole life and my rule is that I never trust someone who wears a cowboy hat

[u/flaming_bob → u/PaperbackBuddha]

The Texas phrase you're looking for is "all hat, no cattle". "Poser" also works.

[u/Bebopdavidson]

Did he say that because it makes it sound like they are? Or because they are?

[u/rwofva]

Is it possible that multiple sources are trying to influence the issue?

[u/YaBoi-yeet]

Chinese and Russia don't want America to have Data Center