Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy open dispute with MAGA loyalists over skilled visas

A multi-day firestorm has erupted over comments made by two incoming advisers to President-elect Donald Trump about H-1B temporary worker visas, a deal for high-skilled workers that some in the MAGA world say are taking American jobs.

The battle began brewing at X before Christmas after Trump appointed venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan to a top AI policy post, sparking a racially charged backlash that appeared in Krishnan’s remarks appeal for green cards for skilled workers.

The backlash escalated on Thursday when Vivek Ramaswamy, in a post on Xcriticized an American culture that he said “honored mediocrity over excellence”, and attributed this as a reason for the influx of foreign technology workers. Ramaswamy, who is Indian American, went on to say that he hopes Trump’s presidency can usher in an American culture that prioritizes “hard work over laziness.” Tech leaders have called for greater access to the widespread immigrant visa, arguing that it is necessary to fill high-skilled tech and other specialized jobs.

Trump adviser Elon Musk, with whom Ramaswamy is co-head of Trump’s future Department of Government Efficiency, had yesterday on X, in response to a tweet about a lack of skilled labor in Silicon Valley, written that “the number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the US is far too low.” Musk, who was born in South Africa and is a naturalized US citizen, urged people to “