Environmental groups have helped block or delay $23.6 billion in AI data center investments across 14 states. The stated reasons noise, water use, energy costs, neighborhood impact are real concerns. But follow the money behind some of the loudest opposition groups and it leads to a U.S.-born man now living in Shanghai who has funneled hundreds of millions into left-wing causes whose campaigns happen to line up almost perfectly with Chinese state media narratives.Jamie and Chris dig into one of the strangest stories in American tech politics right now — the foreign influence angle on U.S. AI infrastructure, Trump's push to build fast, Florida's decision to push back harder than any other state, and the genuinely complicated question of where legitimate local opposition ends and strategic sabotage begins.What's covered:• What AI data centers are and why the U.S. buildout matters for national security• Trump's AI executive order and the ratepayer protection pledge from Microsoft, Anthropic, and others• The $23.6 billion in blocked or delayed investments what happened and where• Who is Neville Roy Singham, why he lives in Shanghai, and what his funded groups have been doing• How foreign influence operations exploit legitimate NIMBY concerns (energy, water, noise, land use)• China's strategic interest in slowing U.S. AI infrastructure while expanding its own• Russia and other actors running parallel influence operations• Palm Beach County's 5-1 vote rejecting Project Tango after a 12-hour public hearing• Florida SB 484: the new law giving communities real power to reject data centers• The honest version: is ALL opposition foreign-influenced, or is some of it just people who don't want a server farm next to their house?• What a reasonable national AI infrastructure policy would actually look likeDon't Be An Idiot drops new episodes every week. Follow so you never miss one.