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The left is apoplectic because Kevin O’Leary had the nerve to say what every patriotic American knows: we cannot cede the future of computing and artificial intelligence to hostile powers while pampering feel-good opposition. O’Leary has been relentlessly attacked for defending the Stratos data center project in Box Elder County, Utah, and for pointing out a hard truth — that our strategic infrastructure is a national security issue, not merely a hobby for coastal activists.
Make no mistake about the scale of what’s at stake. The Stratos project is being pitched as a 40,000-acre hyperscale campus that could eventually draw as much as 9 gigawatts of power — more than double Utah’s current consumption — and that’s why the debate is not a parochial argument about zoning but a debate over whether America wins this century. Critics scream about heat, water use, and air quality, and those concerns deserve sober answers; what they don’t deserve is reflexive obstructionism that would hand the strategic advantage to Beijing.
Local officials moved quickly: Box Elder County commissioners formally approved the initial project agreements on May 4, 2026, after a rushed and emotional hearing that saw thousands of Utahns turn out with a mix of genuine questions and performative outrage. The left-liberal press immediately pivoted to demonize the investors and to portray the project as corporate greed rather than an American effort to secure critical compute capacity on our soil. That narrative ignores the reality that America must produce its own infrastructure if it expects to compete with authoritarian regimes on AI.
When faced with organized opposition, O’Leary called out what many local residents privately feared — that outside actors and foreign adversaries have an interest in undermining U.S. infrastructure projects — and even suggested certain opposition groups might be backed by foreign money. The claim set off a predictable tantrum from the left, which smeared him instead of answering the question: who benefits if America stalls its own data-capacity buildout? Conservatives should applaud anyone who forces that uncomfortable but vital conversation.
Meanwhile, opponents filed waves of protests and questions about water rights, prompting a back-and-forth over local approvals, filings, and withdrawn applications as the community sorts fact from fear. These are not trivial matters — protecting the Great Salt Lake and local water supplies is real — but the left’s instinct is to weaponize environmental concern into blanket obstruction rather than to work toward mitigation and sensible regulation. The right answer is transparent public debate, clear technical analysis, and accountable mitigation plans that let projects proceed where the law and common sense permit.
Kevin O’Leary’s defenders on the right should not shrink from this fight. He’s advancing a project he argues will help America outcompete China in critical AI infrastructure, and that argument matters for national security and for American jobs. If conservatives refuse to defend large-scale, strategic investments simply because progressive activists can fill a town hall and clutch their pearls on cue, we will lose the economic and technological race the next generation will fight.
The real scandal is how quickly the left conflates dissent with treason and labels anyone who pushes back as a villain. Hardworking Americans in Utah deserve better than theatrical outrage and national headlines that try to bulldoze common-sense debate. Stand with builders and defenders of American competitiveness, demand transparent answers on environmental impacts, and reject the left’s campaign to turn development into a moral indictment whenever it suits their political theater.
