MAGA shocked to learn that President Elon Musk is an immigrant
The Point: Elon Musk is dumb about politics. Pathologically unable to shut up for even five minutes, he is already creating fractures in the MAGA/Nerd Reich alliance. Now, a MAGA "civil war" over the role of immigrant tech workers threatens to overshadow Trump's 2024 election victory. Will Musk – an elite globalist billionaire immigrant who apparently thinks American workers are incompetent – last until the inauguration?
MAGA civil war over H-1B visas
The Backstory: When I started working in politics two decades ago, Jerry Brown shared some advice: "Don't be the dog that gets into every fight."
Politics is full of battles, and one must choose them wisely to survive. As the Book of Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything – even silence. But President Musk has little use for hoary wisdom. The unelected chief executive of our nation, who has 12 children and allegedly runs multiple companies, somehow finds time to post on social media all day and night.
His big mouth could be his undoing in politics.
This week, MAGA trolls baited him into a fight over visas for immigrants who work in tech. Musk – who was once an "illegal immigrant" himself according to his own brother – couldn't resist. From the Washington Post:
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 drama started after Trump appointed Sriram Krishnan, an India-born tech investor, as a senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence. Laura Loomer, an infamously racist social media troll and Trump confidant, attacked Krishnan over his support for increasing the number of immigrants who get H-1B visas to work in tech.
Fierce debate ensued, with far-right racists decrying immigration visa practices that allow foreign-born workers to take good American jobs. Tech figures like Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy fired back, alleging that American workers aren't good enough for Silicon Valley.
Ramaswamy even went so far as to attack American culture, claiming it has "venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long." He portrayed the American people as a population of shallow bumpkins who have failed to appreciate the superiority of educated, high-achieving individuals.
"A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers," Ramaswamy declared on X.
Here's the obvious problem that political amateurs like Vivek don't get: A "culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ and the jock over the valedictorian" is the same culture that chooses a reality TV star as president over qualified candidates.
And that reality TV president, whose base notoriously consists of anti-immigrant racists, is the only reason Musk and Ramaswamy are in proximity to power (for now).
Musk, ever the thin-skinned drama queen, then proceeded to throw gasoline on the flames by agreeing with an pseudonymous account that called American workers "retarded."
Wrote Musk: "That pretty much sums it up."
Musk went further, threatening to declare war on his MAGA critics.
“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend," he wrote.
To be clear, he is talking to Trump's most fervent supporters.
Fragile fascism
Analysis: It's amazing to see this fight take place in real-time. If anything, it shows the degree to which Musk doesn't get politics. Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet and his MAGA base is going to war against his would-be puppetmaster, Elon ... and all because Elon is addicted to tweets.
Musk is new to MAGA, and yet he is trying to take full control of the movement – even though he clearly doesn't understand it. How did this "genius" not realize that he's on the political team that hates immigrants, whom it accuses of stealing jobs? Does the phrase "build the wall" ring a bell? The demonization of immigrants has been a main component of Trump's message since the beginning.
Obviously, the question of H1-B visas needed to be handled delicately, if at all. But Musk and his ilk have no talent for subtlety. They were easily baited into a debate they have no chance of winning.
The blowup exposes a key tension in the MAGA/tech authoritarian alliance. As I wrote last week, the MAGA base and the tech oligarchs are united by a hierarchical worldview. But there are some key differences between them, and these portend disaster.
For example, the MAGA base generally believes that the United States is above other countries and, therefore, American citizens are above people from other countries. Musk and his ilk don't see it that way. They are loyal to their own interests, and those interests are more important than national interests. In their view, "Make America Great Again" means importing software engineers from India so that tech billionaires can get richer.
That's not how MAGA voters see things. Making America "great" means expelling immigrants and returning white Americans to their "rightful" place at the top of the social and economic hierarchy. If they don't want immigrants picking their vegetables or cooking in their restaurants, why would they want immigrants making large salaries in Silicon Valley? In the MAGA worldview, those jobs should belong to Americans. The idea of foreign-born immigrants from around the globe coming here and becoming tech zillionaires is nightmare fuel to the MAGA folks.
An immigrant 'president'
Musk is clearly taking the anti-immigrant stuff personally. That makes sense.
In 1992, a young African immigrant arrived in the United States on a student visa. But he quickly dropped out of school and, like so many immigrants before him, he worked illegally to survive and make his way.
Eventually, with lots of government help, he became a billionaire. His name is Elon Musk, and he now seems to think he's president of the United States, even though the Constitution explicitly bans foreigners from taking that job.
But anything is possible in America. Just don't tell MAGA. They would be quite upset to realize that the Republican Party has been purchased by a godless Africa-born globalist billionaire who wants to put a chip in what's left of their brains.
Further reading:
Gil Duran
