Greene breaks with Trump on AI order, citing environmental concerns and old school states’ rights

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene broke ranks with President Trump on Thursday to oppose his artificial intelligence executive order, citing concerns about environmental impact and states’ rights. The Georgia congresswoman’s criticism marks another fracture between Trump and his MAGA base, as she warned the “rushed AI expansion” threatens federalism by withholding federal funding from states that regulate AI.

What you should know: Trump’s AI executive order aims to accelerate U.S. artificial intelligence development by making it easier to build data centers on federal lands and pressuring states to reduce regulations.

• The order threatens to withhold federal funding from AI projects in states that impose regulations on artificial intelligence development.
• Trump is pushing companies like Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft to expand their AI technology beyond what Chinese company DeepSeek has achieved.
• The executive order was signed Wednesday as part of a series of measures to boost American AI competitiveness.

Greene’s key concerns: The congresswoman raised red flags about the lack of environmental safeguards and the threat to state sovereignty in the AI expansion plan.

• “My deep concerns are that the EO demands rapid AI expansion with little to no guardrails and breaks,” Greene wrote on X.
• She specifically worried about massive data centers’ impact on water supplies that cross state lines and the broader environmental consequences.
• Greene called the federal funding threat “an absolute threat to federalism,” referencing her previous opposition to AI state moratorium provisions in the Build Back Better bill.

What she’s saying: Greene argued that competing with China shouldn’t mean adopting China’s approach to development and governance.

• “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,” she wrote.
• “This needs a careful and wise approach. The AI EO takes the opposite.”

The bigger picture: Greene’s opposition represents part of a growing pattern of disagreement between the MAGA congresswoman and Trump’s administration.

• She has recently criticized the administration for not releasing the Epstein Files, opposing a Trump-backed crypto bill, and questioning his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
• This discord comes amid broader tensions between Trump and his MAGA base, particularly over the Epstein Files dismissal.
• “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 in May.

Why this matters: Greene’s stance provides insight into potential fractures within Trump’s political coalition over technology policy, particularly as AI development becomes increasingly central to U.S.-China competition. Her emphasis on environmental protection and states’ rights could signal broader conservative concerns about rapid technological expansion without adequate oversight.