0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Do you think Donald Trump is a secret R. E. M. fan? Trump was, wittingly or not, channeling “Shiny Happy People” when selling the virtues of data centers alongside some of Big Tech’s biggest names this week. They were gathered together to discuss how to win the global AI race without killing everyone. A noble mission. “This is a group that loves local communities,” Trump said, as the tech leaders around him stared like reluctant teenagers visiting an elderly relative, showing little enthusiasm for their supposed love of communities. These billionaire nerds are going to “work with local communities” on data centers to make them “very, very happy,” Trump said. How? By pumping them with enough money to buy off their concerns about these resource-devouring behemoths. Put another way, the tech brolionaires are going to throw their love around, take it into your town, and then put it in the ground as foundations for a data center. But don't worry, where the flowers used to grow, gold and silver will shine instead. And the local people will all be shiny happy people holding hands. No time to cry, happy, happy. You get the tedious drift. If you didn’t understand why a lot of R. E. M. fans kept it secret before, perhaps it’s a little clearer now. Trump reached into his own political lexicon for what to brand this inducement for reluctant residents: “you could call it a dividend because a dividend sounds right. ”
Ah yes, Trump’s solve-all “dividend,” currently going through a midterms test run.