Debate Over US Culture Erupts After a Trump Pick

A "civil war" of sorts broke out over the weekend in MAGA world, pitting far-right Trump supporters against the billionaire tech-bro contingent. The fight started Sunday when President-elect Trump announced he'd chosen venture capitalist and India native Sriram Krishnan as a senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence. That "triggered an anti-Indian backlash," per Axios, which notes that part of the pushback against Krishnan has centered on his advocacy for lifting caps on H-1B visas. More:

• H-1B: CNN notes that this specific visa program allows 65,000 "highly skilled" workers into the US annually, with another 20,000 granted the paperwork if they obtained an advanced degree in the US. The tech sector especially makes use of this visa—including Trump ally Elon Musk, who first came to the US as a foreign student and then worked here on an H-1B visa.

• Ready, set, fight: Newsweek has a timeline, starting with a series of disparaging tweets from Trump loyalist Laura Loomer. On Monday, she called the selection of Krishnan "deeply disturbing," adding that his views are "in direct opposition" to Trump's "America First" agenda. In a follow-up tweet on Christmas Eve, she noted "our country was built by white Europeans, actually. Not third world invaders from India."
• Musk: The new Trump BFF weighed in next in support of drawing highly skilled workers from other countries, writing on Christmas: "The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low. Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win."
• Ramaswamy: Vivek Ramaswamy's comments came Thursday, spurring accusations of "elitist rhetoric," per the Times of India. In a lengthy tweet, Ramaswamy accused American culture of fostering "mediocrity." "A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers," he wrote. "More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of Friends. More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons."

• More reaction: Other big names in the GOP sphere pushed back at Musk and Ramaswamy. "There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture," posted former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. "We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers." Ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz weighed in on the "tech bros": "We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy."
• Musk turns on Loomer: When Loomer insinuated that a rift was growing between Trump and his Silicon Valley pals, and that DOGE is a "vanity project," Musk called her a "troll," per the New Republic. Loomer also insisted Friday that Musk was retaliating by taking away her blue check and subscriptions on X, the social media platform he owns.
• Trump's take: The former and future commander in chief slammed restricted H-1B visas somewhat during his first term. However, in a podcast this past June, Trump appeared to have softened his stance, noting that he believed any foreign national who graduated from an American college should be eligible for permanent residency.
• What's next? Per Axios, this "tense MAGA vs. DOGE moment" will "potentially settle a looming conflict over who has the most influence in Trump 2.0—his historic base or his newfound techno-libertarian allies." "It's a sign of future conflicts," warns Samuel Hammond, senior economist at the Foundation for American Innovation, per the Washington Post. "This is like the pregame."

(More H-1B visa stories.)