MAGA Clashes Over Immigration – Mother Jones

Brandon Bell/AP

Less than one Month before Donald Trump returns to office, two of his most ardent allies have waded into a heated online debate about immigration, particularly the government’s visa program that allows American companies to hire so-called “highly skilled” foreign workers.

The clash began Monday when Laura Loomer, the far-right social media personality known for his vicious racism, condemned Trump’s decision to appoint Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born technology investor, as a senior adviser on artificial intelligence. Tech leaders including Elon Musk defended the practice of hiring foreign workers, particularly through the government’s H-1B visa program. (Musk, a naturalized U.S. citizen from South Africa, once held the visa.) The debate has raged ever since transitioned into a relentless string of petty insults – Loomer compared tech billionaires to “termites” in Mar-a-Lago; Musk called Loomer a troll – and retaliated by accusing X of censorship. Elsewhere, Vivek Ramaswamy spoke out to express his support for hiring foreign workers. The former presidential candidate and current DOGE partner blamed American culture for this “revered mediocrity over excellence” that tech companies have no choice but to hire engineers from abroad.

It might be tempting to see this MAGA fight as a signal that Musk might not be as extreme as the other believers. Could this mean that the tech billionaire who openly espoused some of MAGA’s most damaging racism and conspiracy theories is capable of restraint, at least when it comes to business and economic matters? Such a conclusion from this online war would be a mistake. After all, the tech billionaire, who just last week supported the right-wing extremist AfD party, is simply acting as he always does: he formulates every argument in a way that benefits him. For him, immigration policy should be strictly based on what is economically beneficial for a company or an individual’s bottom line. Not to mention immigrants who are considered less “highly skilled.”

As for Loomer, one can at least say that she is consistent: her attacks against Musk are just the latest version of their long history of xenophobia and shitposting.

So who will win this MAGA war? Trump has yet to publicly address the bitterness — let alone the H1B program that sparked all this. However, it’s safe to say that the president-elect is unlikely to enjoy Musk’s continued dominance of the headlines, providing another opportunity for more of the interpersonal chaos that has always been central to MAGA.