(Headline USA) An online disagreement between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry offered a preview of potential fissures and contradictory views his ideologically diverse brain trust could bring to the White House.
The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement—wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry—and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his tough enforcement of federal immigration policies.
Musk, however, argued that critics either did not understand the point he was making or had misinterpreted his statements in support of expanding worker visas for elite candidates, something Trump also favored during his first term as president.
Dunning-Kruger effect has entered the chat. pic.twitter.com/3tvlW6ZmfF
— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) December 26, 2024
The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur and investigative journalist, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S.
Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves.
Big Tech’s unchecked influence peddling is setting the stage for Democrats to take back the House by channeling America’s frustrations with being sold out to billionaires who claim to want to cut spending while they enrich themselves.
I predict they will try to impeach over it. https://t.co/9qFir5jILT
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) December 27, 2024
Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns.
Loomer accused the platform of punishing her for her criticism by suspending her account and revoking her “premium” blue check.
My 12 hour suspension is now over. For raising concerns and speaking the truth about the technocratic takeover of our country and the White House via influence peddling by billionaire crony technocrats, I have been stripped of my Premium account, blue check, & my subscriptions! pic.twitter.com/zHBMg8If57
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) December 27, 2024
Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.”
Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government in the semi-public Department of Government Efficiency, weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers.
It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for.
Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect, was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers.
He sought to clarify that the remarks applied only to the most elite portion of legal immigrants, who would be assets to the U.S. economy.
Maybe this is a helpful clarification: I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1% of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning.
This is like bringing in the Jokic’s or Wemby’s of the world to help your whole team (which is mostly… https://t.co/mtd0cgkNvE
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 26, 2024
Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded.
Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers.
“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.”
Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement.
His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration, including family-based visas.
As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers.
Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club, and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers.
During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said criminal illegal immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges.
“I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world.
The comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
