WaPo: A MAGA 'Civil War' on X between Musk and the far right over H-1B visas

[Dennis Donovan]

WaPo - (archived: https://archive.ph/ybMSA ) A MAGA ‘Civil War’ on X between Musk and the far right over H-1B visas

The online rift over the H-1B skilled-worker visa program signifies a potential wedge between Trump’s core base and his new Silicon Valley supporters.

December 27, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EST

By Pranshu Verma and Cat Zakrzewski

Far-right activists clashed online with billionaire Elon Musk and other supporters of President-elect Donald Trump over the need for a skilled-worker immigration program that has long been a lifeblood for Silicon Valley — signifying a potential rift between Trump’s core nationalist base and technology executives who have come to support him.

The fight that spilled into public view over the holiday week could preview a wedge within Trump’s coalition over how to execute immigration policy, an issue that animated Trump’s White House campaign.

The controversy spread across X after far-right activist Laura Loomer on Monday criticized Trump’s choice to name Sriram Krishnan, a technology entrepreneur and investor who was born in India, as his senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence. She pointed to Krishnan’s previous support for removing some caps on H-1B visas, a program allowing foreigners with technical skills to work in the United States. The policy is “in direct opposition” to Trump’s agenda, Loomer wrote.

The critique ran headlong into tension with some of Trump’s closest advisers, notably Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk; David Sacks who will be the president-elect’s AI and crypto czar; and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-lead a commission to cut government spending. “‘Normalcy’ doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent,” Ramaswamy said. “And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our a--es handed to us by China.”

The online fight sparked a slew of racist posts from Loomer falsely describing Indians as “third world invaders" with low IQs, while saying it is fueling a “civil war” between Trump’s far-right base and the “tech bros” that have come to support his upcoming administration.

/snip

Rip each other to shreds! I'm here for it!

[onecaliberal]

1. Ohhh I hope they don't resort to second amendment remedies.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Nikki Haley's on Team Loomer:

Notable Republicans, including former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, championed Loomer’s position. “There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” she said Thursday on X. “We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers.”

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Nothing wrong with workers. PLENTY wrong with wages and conditions. Remember Musk flogging Twitter engineers. . . . . nt

[LSparkle]

3. Blondie: "Rip Her To Shreds"!

[kerouac2]

4. Mag-anarchy will doom them and we will be along for the ride

Similar article at axios that was interesting. More examples of how the train wreck of gop, trumpers and maga can't get along. I don't see how they can function with so much insanity and misinformation amongst them. They lie to each other as much as they lie to themselves.

MAGA civil war breaks out over American "mediocrity" culture

https://www.axios.com/2024/12/26/maga-civil-war-ramaswamy-musk-loomer-cernovich

[smb]

24. The Face-Eating Leopards Are Gonna Need Ozempic nt

[RainCaster]

5. It's all about the price- President Musk wants cheap PhDs from India

The US has plenty of high tech graduates, but the tech bros don't like paying the prevailing wage. So they insist that we have a shortage, which is completely bullshit nonsense. The difference? $110k vs $60k. All so the venture capital community can make more money funding those underpaid startups.

[yardwork]

10. And, foreigners on work visas can't jump to another company.

If they quit Musk's companies they have to go home.

Musk, raised in apartheid South Africa by white supremacist parents, wants his workforce to be enslaved and powerless.

[mathematic]

12. H1b visa holders can switch jobs

Not sure why this never gets corrected. They'll still need to meet the h1b requirements, of course, and have to file more paperwork but they absolutely can change jobs.

[yardwork]

14. The rules are complicated. There are many ways for employers to make it hard.

The bottom line is that non-citizens here on work visas have fewer rights and far less room to maneuver than citizens.

[mathematic]

21. I'm glad you've acknowledged that h1b visa holders can switch jobs and that your original post is wrong

Immigration rules in general are hard. I'm in favor of making them easier. I'm also in favor of allowing everybody on h1b visas to get more general visas that can lead to permanent citizenship.

Nobody would be talking about h1b visas if we didn't have per-country caps on immigration that limits the number of immigrants from India so dramatically. The caps are racist in construction. If there is a line to get in to immigrate to this country, the line should be the same length for people regardless of their country of origin.

[yardwork]

22. Thank you for correcting the record with informed details.

I agree with you, but then, I'm not a xenophobic "America first" type. Trump's supporters are.

[uponit7771]

11. Yep, current IT unemployment is 6% in sept ... president Musk wants cheap labor

[mitch96]

20. Yup, I always say.. IF there is a question, first follow the money. Where does it come from, why and where does it go nt

[Oneear]

6. GOP is speaking on Both sides of this issue

The GOP is off Message on this issue. Drink some Water while watching this. The Fire UP GOP has lots of people wanting to be part of the Fire log. This will be a tug-of-war for the GOP.

[uponit7771]

7. EXACTLY !!! WSJ - "IT Unemployment Hits 6% Amid Overall U.S. Jobs Growth"

[Scrivener7]

8. Meh. Musk will give them an envelope of cash and they'll fade away.

[dalton99a]

9. Kick

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. War between oligarchs and populist suckers. . . . . . nt

[thebigidea]

16. What ridiculous hyperbole. It's just weasels jockeying for position.

Just like last time, when our beloved mainstream media also put it in hyperbolic "civil war" terms. If only. They follow the leader, who loves watching them fight among themselves for his favor. It has ALWAYS been his management style.

Media are just taking advantage of a disillusioned left by trying to sell it hope in the form of this "civil war" crap. If only. Don't believe me? Watch all this multiply as all the other clickbait merchants file in with even more excited headlines.

End of the day, they follow Trump. The end.

[keep_left]

17. A pathetic mediocrity like Rama-Smarmy...

...shouldn't pontificate to us about how “ ‘Normalcy’ doesn’t cut it" in the big bad world out there. This asshole made his ill-gotten gains through various financial scams, including the old "pump and dump". He's a poster child for everything that's gone wrong with the country over the last 40 years.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218247306
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/us/politics/vivek-ramaswamy-wealth.html

[mathematic]

18. Anti-immigrant people retreat to the complexities of "h1b" when they're really just anti-immigrant

It's easier to argue your anti-immigrant position if you say you are
1) Against illegal immigration
or
2) Against h1b (or any other specific type of visa for whatever reason)

Then you can get people lost in the weeds while you promote anti-immigrant positions without having to defend the true reasons for the anti-immigrant positions like cultural-mixing or "took our jobs" bad economic takes.

This spat between Musk and Loomer shows that, at the very least, Musk and his buddies have a different notion of what cultural-mixing means. It was obvious that Vance, Vivek, Musk, and the rest were all less white nationalist than MAGA at large and were trying to shape a more inclusive "MAGA-nationalist" identity that was centered around anti-woke, gender identity, anti-black, and anti-islam sentiment. They seem to be failing. American nativisism runs deep.

[WinstonSmith4740]

19. The revolution will be televised.

But I think the adversaries may just turn out to be different than we though they'd be. As Stephanie Miller always says, "Fight, fight, fight...big bag of rats, you're all equally awful."

[LetMyPeopleVote]

23. This fight will be fun to watch

[smb]

25. "Talented And Motivated" aka Willing To Work For Peanuts And Tolerate Abusive Conditions nt

[Emrys]

26. Meanwhile, Trump is apparently clueless about the furore and openly pining for his Musky sidekick:

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

Where are you? When are you coming to the “Center of the Universe,” Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come, tonight. We miss you and x! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!! DJT

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113725094327948716

[Hekate]

27. Popcorn! Getcha hot buttered popcorn!