Musk and Ramaswamy spark MAGA war over skilled immigration and American ‘mediocrity’

Trump world warriors Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have sparked a dispute within MAGA with their proposals to increase immigration visas for highly skilled workers.

Musk and Ramaswamy, who was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), argued that American culture had not sufficiently prioritized education and therefore foreign workers were needed for tech companies like Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla.

During the 2024 election, the two saw their conservative influence soar as they moved closer to Trump, but now the wealthy businessmen are at odds with Trump’s most fervent base, which wants Trump to make good on his promises on immigration restrictions and boosting the U.S. workforce .

During his first term, Trump restricted access to foreign work visas and criticized the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in specialty jobs.

“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. This is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” Musk wrote on X, arguing that the tech industry needs to “double” the number of engineers working in the U.S. today.

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Trump world warriors Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have sparked a dispute within MAGA with their proposals to increase immigration visas for highly skilled workers. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)

“The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the US is far too small,” he added.

Musk compared recruiting foreign workers to building a sports team. “You have to recruit top talent wherever they are. This allows the entire TEAM to win.”

Ramaswamy, whose parents immigrated to the United States from India, supported Musk and took shots at American society.

“American culture values ​​mediocrity over excellence,” he wrote on X.

“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math Olympian (sic) or the jock over the valedictorian will not produce the best engineers.”

Those comments didn’t sit well with conservative crusaders like pundit Ann Coulter, commentator Laura Loomer, former Rep. Matt Gaetz and even former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.

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Musk and Ramaswamy, who was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead his Department of Government Efficiency, argued that American culture has not prioritized education enough. (Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

The pair argue that foreign workers are needed for tech companies like Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” Haley wrote in a post on the social platform X. “You just have to look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should invest and prioritize with Americans, not with foreign workers.”

Haley and Ramaswamy have a long history of feuding, starting with their competition in the 2024 Republican primary.

“We welcomed the tech bros as they came running toward us to avoid the third-grade teacher choosing their child’s gender — and the obvious Biden/Harris economic decline,” Gaetz, R-Fla., wrote ., in one Social media post on Thursday. “We didn’t ask them to develop an immigration policy.”

Right-wing rabble-rouser Loomer said: “Our country was actually built by white Europeans. Not from third world invaders from India. It is not racist against Indians to want the original MAGA policy that I voted for. I voted for a reduction in H-1B visas. No extension.”

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The skirmish erupted after Trump appointed venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his AI policy adviser. This nomination sparked an anti-Indian backlash, with critics highlighting his previous support for lifting the cap on green cards.

“The Woodstock generation managed to build the aerospace industry, the generation before going to the moon did great in America. The underlying point of your post is that we all lived in misery until we were rescued by H-1B planes. Then why did everyone want to come here?” replied right-wing politician Mike Cernovich to Ramaswamy on X.