Trump Swaps Solar Farm for AI Data Center on Public Land

One in three Democrats now identifies as a democratic socialist, a Pennsylvania hospital stripped healthcare from 900 striking workers, and Shell's profits doubled while you pay wartime gas prices

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is U.S. Democratic Socialists.

One in three Democrats now identifies as a democratic socialist. A Pennsylvania hospital just stripped healthcare coverage from over 900 striking workers. Shell’s profits doubled while Americans pay wartime gas prices. And the Trump administration quietly approved an AI data center on public land that was supposed to be a solar farm.

Before we get to the news, a brief ask: USDS was launched as a direct response to MAGA billionaires buying up networks like CBS and newspapers like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. We’re going all-in on the bet that reader-supported journalism can compete directly with the billionaires by being the one thing they can’t buy.

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One in Three Democrats Now Identifies as a Democratic Socialist

This first story will surprise absolutely nobody who’s actually been knocking on doors.

A new CNN poll finds that roughly a third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults now identify as democratic socialists. They are the party’s most motivated voters, as 66 percent of registered democratic socialists say they are extremely motivated to vote this year, compared with 57 percent of non-democratic socialists.

The movement skews young and working-class: 59 percent are under 45, 66 percent do not have a college degree, and 76 percent earn less than $100,000 a year.

Nearly all democratic socialists hold favorable views of democratic socialist politicians like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Primaries in the coming weeks will test if their success will continue expanding beyond blue strongholds.

Here’s something especially worth noting: 99 percent of those who identify as democratic socialists routinely vote Democrat. That makes them some of the most loyal voters the DNC has — as well as the most overlooked.

CNN is treating this as news. The DNC is treating it as a problem. Both are telling on themselves.

Pennsylvania Hospital Strips Healthcare From 900 Striking Workers

A Pennsylvania hospital just showed the country exactly how far management will go to crush a strike.

Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College revoked healthcare benefits from more than 900 workers participating in a five-day strike this week. The hospital classified the strike as a “voluntary reduction in hours” — the same category as personal leave — and terminated coverage effective the first day of the walkout.

Workers found out they had lost their insurance Tuesday night. Many of those workers share plans with family members, meaning the number of people who lost coverage is likely well over a thousand.

Hope Jasper, a nurse on the picket line, said her husband has an incurable form of lymphoma. They decided together to postpone his treatment until after the strike, with an infusion scheduled for next Thursday.

At a labor rally Wednesday, maintenance worker and union officer Josh Rosefsky told the crowd that the hospital wasn’t doing this because it had to. “They’re doing it because they want to punish us for standing up for our community,” he said.

The hospital says it plans to automatically reinsure workers on August 1, when the strike ends. A hospital that strips healthcare from its own nurses to break a strike is telling you exactly what it thinks healthcare is for: leverage.

What Mount Nittany Medical Center did is despicable. It’s also legal. That’s the real story, because it means every hospital in the country just learned they can do the same thing the next time their workers walk out. Whether anyone is watching when they try it is up to you. Please consider upgrading your subscription today.

Trump Admin. Swaps Solar Farm for AI Data Center on Public Land

The Bureau of Land Management has approved an AI data center on national public land in Boulder City, Nevada, that was originally approved for a solar energy project. The BLM did not conduct a new environmental review nor take public comment — it simply declared that a solar farm and a data center are “substantially the same.”

The developer, Townsite Solar 2, originally received approval in 2023 to build a solar and battery storage facility. Earlier this year, it quietly amended its application to a data center instead. The BLM waved it through anyway, on the basis that the two projects had similar acreage and building footprints.

The fundamental flaw in that logic? The solar project would have generated energy, whereas the data center will consume more electricity than the entire neighboring community of Boulder City.

The approval may have had help from the Bernhardt Group, a lobbying firm led by former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Lobbyists from the firm were hired by one of the project’s financial backers around the time the application was amended.

If this precedent holds, every AI company in the country just learned it can take public land approved for something else and turn it into a private server farm.

Shell’s Profits More Than Doubled Amid Iran War

As Americans can’t afford to fill their tanks, Shell reported $9.84 billion in adjusted earnings for the second quarter of 2026, more than double the $4.26 billion it posted in the same period last year. It is Shell’s best quarterly result since the second quarter of 2022, when oil and gas prices surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Shell’s first-half earnings are up 70 percent year over year, as cash flow from operations increased 80 percent to $21.4 billion. The reason is the same one making your gas more expensive: major disruptions to oil and gas supplies through the Strait of Hormuz have sent prices soaring, and the companies that control the supply are pocketing the difference.

Shell is not the only one thriving. BP, TotalEnergies, and Equinor all reported surging profits this quarter on the same wartime price spike. Every dollar of those earnings came from someone paying more at the pump.

In 2024, Trump asked oil executives at a Mar-a-Lago dinner to raise $1 billion for his campaign, promising deregulation and tax cuts in return. They gave at least $75 million. Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan was at the White House in January sitting across from Trump to discuss oil investment in Venezuela, and the administration has since sued two states for passing climate laws that oil executives complained about.

Sawan told CNBC that volatility is “the new normal” and that the company is built to “thrive through volatility.” What he means is that war is good for business.

We Need You Today, Not Someday

The stories above have one thing in common: powerful people that would very much prefer you not know the details. A hospital stripping insurance from its own nurses to break a strike. An oil company doubling its profits off your wallet. A federal agency handing public land to an AI company without accountability.

Corporate outlets have advertisers who get nervous, and owners who answer to billionaires buying up the media. We can’t be bought.

That’s where you come in. We can only keep this going if the people reading this pay for it. If you want this reporting to keep coming every morning, hit the button below and upgrade your subscription today.

The line holds. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you tomorrow.

STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

Abdul El-Sayed Opens 15-Point Lead in Michigan Senate Primary. One week out from the August 4 primary, democratic socialist Abdul El-Sayed is leading Rep. Haley Stevens 54 percent to 39 percent among likely Democratic primary voters in Michigan, according to a new Emerson College poll. Voters under age 50 favor El-Sayed by 42 points, while independents favor him by 27 points. El-Sayed, who is endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has surged in popularity despite the Democratic establishment refusing to support him. Governor Whitmer, Senator Peters, and former Senator Stabenow have instead backed Stevens.

Washington’s Millionaires Tax Gets Former Gov. Inslee’s Endorsement. Former Washington Governor Jay Inslee has endorsed the state’s new 9.9 percent tax on incomes over $1 million. He is the only living former governor to back it, as the two other former Democratic governors have outright refused to give their endorsements. The tax, signed into law by Governor Bob Ferguson earlier this year, is expected to generate approximately $3 billion going to education and relief for low-income homes. It faces a ballot recall this November started by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, who fallaciously claims the tax will expand to all income levels.

DSA Candidate Takes on AIPAC-Backed Incumbent With 30,000 Doors Knocked. In Florida’s 25th Congressional District, Oliver Larkin is building a successful grassroots primary challenge to Rep. Jared Moskowitz. So far, the democratic socialist has raised about $550,000 almost entirely from individual donors. Meanwhile, Moskowitz has taken more than $660,000 from AIPAC alone — 48 times more than his next largest contributing organization. Larkin’s campaign says it has knocked on more than 30,000 doors and made 100,000 combined calls and texts, whereas Moskowitz has refused to debate him or hold a single in-person town hall.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Workers Strike at San Francisco Flagship Store. Workers at the Original Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop in Ghirardelli Square launched a three-day strike on Thursday, marking the first strike at the location since 1984. The union, Unite Here Local 2, accuses the company of bargaining in bad faith during contract negotiations, which have now dragged on for more than a year. It also says Ghirardelli is illegally withholding information about how much revenue it collects from a 6 percent “healthcare fee” charged to customers, while simultaneously cutting back coverage for workers.