WASHINGTON: Trying to recapture the Republican fervor that helped put him in office, President Donald Trump travels to Yuma, Arizona, on Tuesday to visit the nation’s southern border and to Phoenix to rally thousands of supporters in a state where he’s trashed both Republican senators.
The two-day trip, which also includes a stop in Reno, Nevada, to speak to veterans at an American Legion conference, marks his farthest journey west since taking office in January.
It comes at a politically turbulent time for the president. On Monday night, he addressed the nation about his decision to maintain a US presence in Afghanistan, an action at odds with his repeated promises on the campaign trail to end the country’s longest war. And last week he touched off a firestorm by saying that “both sides” were to blame for violence that erupted at a rally organized by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump’s planned events could help stoke a base of voters who oppose his move on Afghanistan and the recent White House departure of Steve Bannon. The chief strategist had made it his mission to remind Trump of what his most fervent supporters want from his presidency, and some conservative strategists have openly worried that without Bannon around Trump will be too influenced by more traditional Republicans — such as on Afghanistan policy.
While at the Marine Corps base in Arizona along the US-Mexico border, Trump can renew his vow to build a wall and highlight other tougher immigration policies, a favorite among his supporters. Later, his political rally provides the atmospherics of the campaign trail itself. This will be Trump’s eighth political rally since taking office. His 2020 re-election campaign pays for and organizes the events, carefully screening attendees.
Democratic leaders and other Trump opponents plan protests and marches outside the Phoenix rally to decry his immigration policies and his comments about Charlottesville. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton had implored the president to postpone the rally to allow time for the country to heal from Charlottesville.
Gov. Doug Ducey, a Trump supporter, will greet him as he arrives in Phoenix but will not attend the rally to focus on safety needs, his spokesman said. Neither Sen. Jeff Flake nor Sen. John McCain, who is undergoing cancer treatment, will join Trump at his events in the state. Flake has been on tour promoting a book that says the Republican Party’s embrace of Trump has left conservatism withering.
Flake has been a frequent target of Trump’s wrath. Last week, he wrote on Twitter that Flake is “toxic” and said it is “great to see” Kelli Ward running against him in the GOP primary for the seat, which is up for re-election next year. That has sparked talk of Trump possibly endorsing Ward from the stage Tuesday night.
Another potential subplot of the rally: Trump has teased in a Fox News interview and on Twitter the possibility that he’ll pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who recently was convicted for disobeying a court order to stop his immigration patrols.
Questions on immigration, race follow Trump to Arizona
Questions on immigration, race follow Trump to Arizona
India plans AI ‘data city’ on staggering scale
- ‘The data city is going to come in one ecosystem ... with a 100 kilometer radius’
NEW DELHI: As India races to narrow the artificial intelligence gap with the United States and China, it is planning a vast new “data city” to power digital growth on a staggering scale, the man spearheading the project says.
“The AI revolution is here, no second thoughts about it,” said Nara Lokesh, information technology minister for Andhra Pradesh state, which is positioning the city of Visakhapatnam as a cornerstone of India’s AI push.
“And as a nation ... we have taken a stand that we’ve got to embrace it,” he said ahead of an international AI summit next week in New Delhi.
Lokesh boasts the state has secured investment agreements of $175 billion involving 760 projects, including a $15 billion investment by Google for its largest AI infrastructure hub outside the United States.
And a joint venture between India’s Reliance Industries, Canada’s Brookfield and US firm Digital Realty is investing $11 billion to develop an AI data center in the same city.
Visakhapatnam — home to around two million people and popularly known as “Vizag” — is better known for its cricket ground that hosts international matches than cutting-edge technology.
But the southeastern port city is now being pitched as a landing point for submarine internet cables linking India to Singapore.
“The data city is going to come in one ecosystem ... with a 100 kilometer radius,” Lokesh said. For comparison, Taiwan is roughly 100 kilometers wide.
Lokesh said the plan goes far beyond data connectivity, adding that his state had “received close to 25 percent of all foreign direct investments” to India in 2025.
“It’s not just about the data centers,” he explained while outlining a sweeping vision of change, with Andhra Pradesh offering land at one US cent per acre for major investors.
