Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch ally of the MAGA movement, broke from President Donald Trump on Thursday to oppose his executive order on artificial intelligence, raising concerns about its impact on the environment and states’ rights.
Hoping to accelerate the United States’s development of AI, Trump signed a series of executive orders on Wednesday, making it easier to build data centers on federal lands and incentivizing states to impose fewer regulations by threatening to withhold federal funding to AI projects.
But Greene raised a red flag, saying she was concerned with the impact of massive data centers on the people and environment around, while providing little to no regulations.
“My deep concerns are that the EO demands rapid AI expansion with little to no guardrails and breaks. It also contains the threat of withholding federal funds from states who regulate AI, which is an absolute threat to federalism and why I strongly opposed the AI state moratorium originally in the BBB,” Greene wrote on X.
Trump has pushed for more AI development in the U.S., hoping for companies such as Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft to develop and expand their AI technology beyond what the Chinese-based company DeepSeek has already done.
But the Georgia congresswoman said the “rushed AI expansion” should include a plan to address human and environmental impact – with particular concerns around using nearby water supplies that cross state lines.
“Competing with China does not mean become like China by threatening state rights, replacing human jobs on mass scale creating mass poverty, and creating potentially devastating effects on our environment and critical water supply,” Greene wrote.
“This needs a careful and wise approach. The AI EO takes the opposite.”
Greene’s statement is the latest in a string of opposing stances that she has taken against Trump, whom she has typically expressed unwavering loyalty to.
Recently, Greene has also criticized the administration for not releasing the Epstein Files, a recent Trump-backed crypto bill, and the president’s decision to intervene in the Iran–Israel conflict by bombing Iranian nuclear facilities.
Her additional opposition also comes at a moment of contention between the president and his MAGA base.
Trump’s dismissal of the Epstein Files, of which conspiracy theories have floated in the MAGA world for years, appears to have caused a fracture in his base’s trust.
It’s unclear how many may feel about the AI bill, but Greene’s opposition provides some insight.
“I represent the base and when I’m frustrated and upset over the direction of things, you better be clear, the base is not happy,” Greene said on X back in May.
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