MAGA civil war as Elon Musk and Vivek clash with hard right on key immigration issue

The MAGA movement, long united under the banner “America First,” is facing a deepening schism as an intense online battle over the H-1B visa program engulfs its ranks.

The program, which allows U.S. companies to hire highly qualified foreign workers, has become a lightning rod for controversy within the ranks of newly elected President Donald Trump.

At the heart of the storm is Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican Party presidential candidate and Trump appointee whose outspoken defense of the program has drawn backlash from both MAGA loyalists and high-profile Republicans.

Ramaswamy, who was recently appointed co-chief of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), stoked the controversy with a provocative post on X.

In his message, he expressed strong support for bringing “highly skilled” foreign workers to the US, even as MAGA voters and Trump himself have called for stricter immigration policies.

“The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born and first-generation engineers instead of ‘native’ Americans is not because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy and wrong explanation),” Ramaswamy wrote.

“An important part of it comes down to the C-word: culture. Difficult questions require difficult answers, and if we are serious about solving the problem, we must face the TRUTH: Our American culture has honored mediocrity over excellence for far too long.”

He further criticized the country’s cultural priorities, stating that a society that celebrates “the prom queen over the Math Olympiad champion” and “the jock over the valedictorian” would inevitably fail to produce the world’s best engineers.

Ramaswamy bizarrely blamed a series of 1990s TV sitcoms for what he saw as a decline in America’s edge in science and technology.

“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the Math Olympiad champion, or the jock over the valedictorian—a culture that reveres Cory from Boy Meets World or Zach & Slater over Screech in Saved by the Bell, or “Stefan” over Steve Urkel in Family Matters will not produce the best engineers,” he noted.

“If you grow up striving for normalcy, then normalcy is what you will achieve.”

Ramaswamy further said that he hopes that “our culture fully wakes up. A culture that re-prioritizes performance over normality; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness.”

Ramaswamy’s comments did not go unnoticed by Trump and his ardent supporters.

His call for a cultural renaissance – a renaissance that prioritizes “excellence over mediocrity” – created a firestorm.

While the president-elect has yet to provide a direct response, his supporters and MAGA affiliates have not held back.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who positioned herself as a moderate during the 2024 Republican primaries, responded sharply.

“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” Haley declared.

“All you have to do is look at the border and see how many people want what we have. We need to invest and prioritize Americans, not foreign workers.”

Right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich also weighed in, denouncing Ramaswamy’s comments as dismissive of America’s storied history of innovation.

“The Woodstock generation succeeded in developing space travel, the generation before it went to the moon,” he wrote.

“The basis of your message is that we all lived in misery until we were rescued by H-1Bs. Then why did everyone want to come here?’

Ramaswamy responded, “That version of America, which used to embody rampant exceptionalism, is exactly what we want to return to. That’s about culture, not about immigration policy.’

Even MAGA influencers like Jack Posobiec joined the fray, wondering why America would seek foreign workers instead of nurturing domestic talent.

“Imagine how many more JD Vances there are,” Posobiec argued, referring to the MAGA-oriented senator known for his rags-to-riches story.

Far-right commentator Laura Loomer took an even harsher stance, accusing Ramaswamy of undermining MAGA’s original agenda.

Her incendiary post referred to the H-1B visa program as part of a “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, highlighting growing fear within Trump’s base about the erosion of traditional American identity.

It comes just days after Loomer blasted Trump’s decision to appoint a “career leftist” who opposes “America First” policies as a senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence.

She described Sriram Krishnan’s appointment as “deeply disturbing” due to his stand on allotment of green cards, opening the floodgates to a wave of criticism from the MAGA group.

White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks defended Krishnan, arguing that he simply wants to abolish country limits.

“Right now, every country in the world is allocated the same number of green cards, regardless of how many qualified applicants it has. So, applicants from India have to wait for 11 years, while applicants from many other countries have no waiting period at all,” he said.

‘Supporting a limited number of highly educated immigrants is still a prevailing view among the right. Sriram is definitely not a ‘career leftist’.”

Elon Musk responded to Sacks’ comments, agreeing that they “make sense.”

The debate has underscored some of the broader concerns about the direction of Trump’s second term.

During his first administration, Trump made significant cuts to the H-1B visa program, a move applauded by his anti-immigration allies, but his current position remains unclear, leaving immigrant communities and tech industry leaders bracing for potential policy shifts.

Critics warn that rolling back the program could harm U.S. competitiveness, especially in sectors such as technology and healthcare.

However, MAGA supporters argue that limiting foreign workers would force companies to invest in training American workers.