It still boggles my mind that Taylor Fraizer McCollum, the "activist" who prevented a $5 billion data center from being built on the site of an abandoned mall, is being hailed as some sort of hero. The site was home to a mall that closed 24 years ago, and is sitting empty. It's generating zero tax revenue.
I'm not sure what's more infuriating about this story.
First, it appears McCollum lives in her grandfather's house because she was evicted in 2024 for not paying rent. She also reportedly has several unpaid traffic tickets. She also had the audacity to ask local government for taxpayer-funded repairs on her grandfather's roof. To the credit of the local government, they told her there was no money for it.
The Maryland activist who helped block a new data center asked for taxpayers to pay for her family's roof repairs.
— HotTakes NobodyAskedFor (@HotTakesNobody) November 11, 2026
In September, Taylor Frazier McCollum appeared at a Prince George’s County Council meeting to advocate for a fund for roof repairs needed at her grandfather’s home,… pic.twitter.com/P9nCc3C8gQ
Council member Wanika Fisher even blamed McCollum's blocking of the data center on the lack of funds.
Oh, the delicious irony.
Her "activism" was also linked to the Chinese Communist Party, which has a vested interest in thwarting American efforts to lead in and control the AI/data race. Instead of looking critically at this foreign interference, McCollum was hailed as a hero. In fact, McCollum wants to run for office.
Pardon me while I laugh.
The sad part is, she'll probably get elected.
Her blocking of the data center cost the county at least $13.7 to $53.5 million a year in tax revenue. In Memphis, the data centers brought in $25 million last year, and $54 million this year.
That's a lot of roof repairs. It also could fund road repairs, schools, and other programs.
McCollum said part of her objection was that the data center jobs would only benefit data center employees. That's simply not true. Those employees pay taxes, which benefits the community. They spend that money on rent, clothing, food, entertainment – all things that help local economies.
Instead, McCollum wanted something "everyone could use" like a ... trampoline park.
The average salary for a data center technician is $60,000–$80,000 per year. The average pay for a trampoline park employee is $12 to $16 per hour, and usually part-time. Assuming a 20-hour-a-week schedule at $16 an hour, that's $16,640 a year before taxes — three to four times less than a data center job.
Oh, and there's a trampoline park 2.5 miles from the data center already.
She may genuinely have the mental age of a child. https://t.co/6kHc9nv3Bk pic.twitter.com/6J0pBfZAGm
— Elijah Mack, Neo-Jeffersonian (@ElijahForCA) November 12, 2026
I'm guessing trampoline parks aren't in that much demand in Prince George's County that you need two of them in a three-mile radius. I personally know someone who would have benefited from a data center job. It would help him raise his family and better their lives.
But thanks to McCollum, that likely won't happen now.
And I don't think I've ever seen a better encapsulation of Democrat policies than this: short-sighted, selfish, influenced by bad actors, and — at its core — still fundamentally greedy and uninformed. It's why we can't have nice things.
