MAGA civil war erupts after Trump allies accuse Elon Musk of ‘censorship’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk may have funded an anti-immigrant “America First” presidential campaign with $250 million, but his calls for more skilled foreign-born workers sparked a massive backlash from President-elect Donald Trump’s far-right supporters.

Musk claimed on Wednesday that there is a “significant shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers” in America and called for increased visa availability, sparking scorn from many of Trump’s supporters and close allies.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a temporary nominee for Trump’s attorney general, criticized Musk’s influence in the White House and H-1B visa stance in a post to X on Thursday.

“We welcomed the tech brothers as they came running toward us,” Gaetz wrote. “We didn’t ask them to develop an immigration policy.”

Former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, herself the daughter of Indian immigrants, argued against Musk and “DOGE” duo partner Vivek Ramaswamy’s claim that immigrants have a unique talent or work ethic.

“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” she wrote in a post Thursday. “We should invest in and prioritize Americans, not foreign workers.”

Some went beyond criticizing Musk’s stance to completely questioning the X owner’s role in the new White House.

Laura Loomer, a self-described “pro-white nationalist,” rejected Musk’s closeness to Trump and predicted consequences for the billionaire for the remark and an end to the honeymoon between Big Tech and MAGA.

“(Elon Musk), who is not and never has been MAGA, is a total liability to the Trump transition,” Loomer tweeted. “He is a Level 5 hanger-on who has outstayed his welcome at Mar a Lago to become Trump’s supporting figure and the leader for all of his Big Tech accomplices sneaking into Mar a Lago.”

Musk dismissed Loomer’s comments and hit out at the Trump ally in a Thursday post

“Pure censorship. MAGA has been silenced,” Loomer claimed in a post on the platform, later claiming, “Big Tech has infiltrated MAGA.”

High-profile

Ultimately, the far-right influencer predicted that there would be a “divorce soon” between Trump and Musk, a possibility that some in Big Tech also believe. Samuel Hammond, an economist at the anti-regulation Foundation for American Innovation, told the Washington Post that the spar was “a sign of future conflict.”

The showdown comes just days after the president-elect had to reassure his supporters that he, not Musk, was in charge.

“He’s not going to be president,” Trump said Sunday, referring to the nickname “President Musk” that some gave the billionaire after he successfully defeated two federal budget bills. “I am safe. Do you know why? That can’t be him. He wasn’t born in this country.”