Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy want cheap labor—not a multiracial democracy.
Jeet Heer
THE NATION
January 3, 2025
ELON MUSK AND MINI-ME
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Elon Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Vivek Ramaswamy arrive for a meeting on Capitol Hill on December 5, 2024.(Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Democrats are rightly excited by the fact that the MAGA crew have already started viciously fighting among themselves even before Donald Trump’s inauguration. After all, with the Republicans set to enjoy a trifecta (even one that rests on a fragile hold of the House of Representatives), the best hope for Democrats is that internal GOP strife will sabotage Trump’s ability to enact his agenda. This is, in fact, what happened in Trump’s previous go-round as president, when the MAGA king was often thwarted by internal strife in his coalition (particularly the intense battles between GOP institutionalists such as Mitch McConnell and anti-system provocateurs such as Steve Bannon).
The current intramural GOP strife is a familiar battle between a business elite that wants cheap immigrant labor and nativist agitators who believe restriction of immigration is central to the MAGA agenda. As New York magazine reports, “Last week, while Americans were busy celebrating the holidays with their families, a contentious online rift emerged among the MAGA faithful after Donald Trump’s tech-world allies, led by billionaire Elon Musk, began pushing back on attacks on highly skilled foreign tech workers by the movement’s nativist wing.”
The initial instigation for the conflict was Trump’s nomination of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born tech entrepreneur, as senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence. The battle soon spread to the larger issue of H-1B visas, which are widely used in Silicon Valley as a way of hiring immigrants.
Leading the charge against both Krishnan and the H-1B program was Laura Loomer, a controversial media personality who reportedly has special access to Trump. As New York noted, “Loomer, who has never been one to shy away from outright racism, also launched attacks on Indian immigrants, calling them ‘third world invaders’ while celebrating the ‘white Europeans’ who she claimed built the country.”
In battling Loomer, Musk and his allies presented themselves as opponents of racism. Musk tweeted that “those contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem” and added that by “contemptible fools” he meant “those in the Republican Party who are hateful, unrepentant racists.”
While it is true that Loomer and her allies (including former Trump adviser Steven Bannon and pundit Ann Coulter) are racists, that does not mean that Musk and his fellow Silicon Valley allies (notably former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is working with Musk in advising Trump on subduing the federal government to the MAGA agenda) are animated by truly anti-racist politics in their struggle.
Current Issue
Democrats are rightly excited by the fact that the MAGA crew have already started viciously fighting among themselves even before Donald Trump’s inauguration. After all, with the Republicans set to enjoy a trifecta (even one that rests on a fragile hold of the House of Representatives), the best hope for Democrats is that internal GOP strife will sabotage Trump’s ability to enact his agenda. This is, in fact, what happened in Trump’s previous go-round as president, when the MAGA king was often thwarted by internal strife in his coalition (particularly the intense battles between GOP institutionalists such as Mitch McConnell and anti-system provocateurs such as Steve Bannon).
The current intramural GOP strife is a familiar battle between a business elite that wants cheap immigrant labor and nativist agitators who believe restriction of immigration is central to the MAGA agenda. As New York magazine reports, “Last week, while Americans were busy celebrating the holidays with their families, a contentious online rift emerged among the MAGA faithful after Donald Trump’s tech-world allies, led by billionaire Elon Musk, began pushing back on attacks on highly skilled foreign tech workers by the movement’s nativist wing.”
The initial instigation for the conflict was Trump’s nomination of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born tech entrepreneur, as senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence. The battle soon spread to the larger issue of H-1B visas, which are widely used in Silicon Valley as a way of hiring immigrants.
Leading the charge against both Krishnan and the H-1B program was Laura Loomer, a controversial media personality who reportedly has special access to Trump. As New York noted, “Loomer, who has never been one to shy away from outright racism, also launched attacks on Indian immigrants, calling them ‘third world invaders’ while celebrating the ‘white Europeans’ who she claimed built the country.”
In battling Loomer, Musk and his allies presented themselves as opponents of racism. Musk tweeted that “those contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem” and added that by “contemptible fools” he meant “those in the Republican Party who are hateful, unrepentant racists.”
While it is true that Loomer and her allies (including former Trump adviser Steven Bannon and pundit Ann Coulter) are racists, that does not mean that Musk and his fellow Silicon Valley allies (notably former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is working with Musk in advising Trump on subduing the federal government to the MAGA agenda) are animated by truly anti-racist politics in their struggle.
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January 2025 Issue
As my Nation colleague Joan Walsh noted, as repugnant as they are, anti-system agitators such as Loomer and Bannon have a point when they deride the H-1B program as exploitative. For decades, progressive pro-labor activists have argued that the H-1B is in effect a guest worker program, creating a reserve army of employees who work for lower wages and have fewer rights than American citizens or those with permanent residency status. The H-1B visa is tied to employment, which means employees are especially vulnerable to exploitation.
On January 2, Bernie Sanders expressed this long-standing leftist position, noting, “The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad. The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.”
The current GOP civil war is one where both sides have profoundly reactionary and bigoted views of society, although with slight variations. MAGA nativists such as Loomer and Bannon are dreaming of a return to the overwhelmingly white America of the 1950s, with middle-class jobs a patrimony reserved largely for the nation’s dominant ethnic group. Musk and Ramaswamy might want a more multiracial America, but it would still be a profoundly hierarchical one, with immigrants providing the cheap labor that allows the 1 percent to flourish.
Musk’s own history of racism clarifies the fact that both factions in this battle are just offering different strands of bigotry. Musk has a long history of promoting racist myths such as the idea of “white genocide” and the “Great Replacement.” These ideas are, as Julia Black documented in a 2022 article for Business Insider, tied up with his eugenicist belief that people such as himself have superior genes and thus a duty to populate the earth. This is a belief that Musk seems to have acquired from his father, Errol Musk.
As Black reports:
Musk, who has fathered 10 known children with three women, is the tech world’s highest-profile pronatalist, albeit unofficially. He has been open about his obsession with Genghis Khan, the 13th-century Mongol ruler whose DNA can still be traced to a significant portion of the human population. One person who has worked directly with Musk and who spoke on the condition of anonymity for this article recalled Musk expressing his interest as early as 2005 in “populating the world with his offspring. In August, Elon’s father…told me that he was worried about low birth rates in what he called ‘productive nations.’”
Musk’s ally Ramaswamy has cagily recast these arguments in a more politically correct form, as a matter of culture rather than genetics. According to Ramaswamy, Silicon Valley needs to hire immigrants because “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.”
One reason not to take Ramaswamy’s claim to care about culture seriously is that he himself, like Musk, has a history of racism. Moreover, these “cultural” justifications for hierarchy are often just barely disguised manifestations of the belief that some people are inherently masters and others inherently servants. The Indian journalist Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, in taking sides with Musk against a nativist critic of the H-1B program, gave the game away by arguing, “Three generations of my ancestors have spoken & written, better English than your blue collar labourer family. I’ll hire you to polish my shoes though, because that’s the only thing you seem to be qualified for.”
Iyer-Mitra’s words show that support of Silicon Valley’s version of meritocracy is perfectly compatible with aristocratic hauteur. Musk’s belief in the greatness of his own genes and the necessary to populate the planet with his DNA is a particularly ludicrous manifestation of the same attitude.
At the very same time that Musk was decrying the racism of Loomer and other critics of the H-1B visa, he was expressing suport for the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which is notoriously anti-immigrant. There’s no tension between Musk’s two positions. He is opportunistically anti-racist when he needs workers for his company, but in the long run he wants to keep the multiracial working class disciplined and divided. The best way to do that is to support nativist political movements, whether MAGA in the United States or AfD in Germany.
For progressives, there’s little reason to choose sides between Musk’s cynical racism and the racism of MAGA anti-system agitators like Loomer and Bannon. At best, we can hope that the internal strife will weaken both these noxious forces. The true path forward involves using the political space opened up by right-wing infighting to make a more principled argument for immigration—one based on the goal of creating a multiracial working class with a shared value of cosmopolitan solidarity that can overthrow the plutocrats and their racist coalition.
Jeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The Guardian, The New Republic, and The Boston Globe.
Taking on Musk, Sanders Says Corporate
Abuse of H-1B Visa Program Must End
"We need an economy that works for all, not just the few. And one important
prog ram way forward in that direction is to bring about major reforms in theH-1B ."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 20, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
(Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Jessica Corbett
Jan 02, 2025
COMON DREAMS
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a longtime advocate of reforming H-1B visas, on Thursday reiterated his argument that "widespread corporate abuse" of the guest worker program must end amid a heated battle among Republican President-elect Donald Trump's allies.
"Elon Musk and a number of other billionaire tech company owners have argued that this federal program is vital to our economy because of the scarcity of highly skilled American engineers and other tech workers. I disagree," said Sanders (I-Vt.), a prominent advocate of pro-worker policies including raising the federal minimum wage, in a lengthy statement.
"The main function of the H-1B visa program and other guest worker initiatives is not to hire 'the best and the brightest,' but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad," he asserted. "The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make."
"If this program is really supposed to be about importing workers with highly advanced degrees in science and technology, why are H-1B guest workers being employed as dog trainers, massage therapists, cooks, and English teachers?"
The fight has pitted some far-right, anti-immigrant Trump supporters against Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the billionaires charged with leading the president-elect's proposed Department of Government Efficiency. Musk, who was born in South Africa and is now the world's richest person, has said he once had an H-1B visa and declared last week that "I will go to war on this issue."
Musk is also CEO of the electric vehicle company Tesla and has used H-1B visas as an employer. So has Trump. The incoming president—who in 2016 pledged to eliminate "rampant, widespread" abuse of "H-1B as a cheap labor program"—said Saturday that "I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program."
Faced with accusations that those remarks represented a shift from his previous criticism of the program, Trump toldFox News on Tuesday: "I didn't change my mind. I've always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country, and we need competent people... We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in. We're going to have jobs like we've never had before."
As Common Dreamsreported Sunday, progressives are arguing that both the anti-immigrant and billionaire supporters of Trump are wrong. Krystal Ball, co-host of the online news show "Breaking Points," said that "the truth is if you are struggling it's likely because of billionaire robber barons like Trump, Elon, and Vivek, who rig the rules to screw regular people."
Sanders noted that "in 2022 and 2023, the top 30 corporations using this program laid off at least 85,000 American workers while they hired over 34,000 new H-1B guest workers. There are estimates that as many as 33% of all new information technology jobs in America are being filled by guest workers. Further, according to Census Bureau data, there are millions of Americans with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math who are not currently employed in those professions."
Taking aim at just one of Musk's companies on Thursday, the senator asked: "If there is really a shortage of skilled tech workers in America, why did Tesla lay off over 7,500 American workers this year—including many software developers and engineers at its factory in Austin, Texas—while being approved to employ thousands of H-1B guest workers?"
"Moreover, if these jobs are only going to 'the best and brightest,' why has Tesla employed H-1B guest workers as associate accountants for as little as $58,000, associate mechanical engineers for as little as $70,000 a year, and associate material planners for as little as $80,000 a year?" he continued. "Those don't sound like highly specialized jobs that are for the top 0.1% as Musk claimed this week."
The senator shared his statement on the Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly called Twitter. Multiple other users shared videos of Sanders criticizing the H-1B program on television and the Senate floor going back to 2007, his first year in the chamber.
"If this program is really supposed to be about importing workers with highly advanced degrees in science and technology, why are H-1B guest workers being employed as dog trainers, massage therapists, cooks, and English teachers?" Sanders asked. "Can we really not find English teachers in America?"
The senator expressed support for using the program as a temporary fix for labor shortages in highly specialized areas while also arguing that "in the long term, if the United States is going to be able to compete in a global economy, we must make sure that we have the best-educated workforce in the world. And one way to help make that happen is to substantially increase the guest worker fees large corporations pay to fund scholarships, apprenticeships, and job training opportunities for American workers."
"Further, we must also significantly raise the minimum wage for guest workers, allow them to easily switch jobs, and make sure that corporations are required to aggressively recruit American workers first before they can hire workers from overseas," he added. "It should never be cheaper for a corporation to hire a guest worker from overseas than an American worker."
While Musk, Ramaswamy, and others "are right" that "we need a highly skilled and well-educated workforce," Sanders said, "the answer is to hire qualified American workers first and to make certain that we have an education system that produces the kind of workforce that our country needs for the jobs of the future. And that's not just engineering. We are in desperate need of more doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers, electricians, plumbers, and a host of other professions."
In addition to blasting the ultrarich beneficiaries of the H-1B program like Musk and Trump, Sanders called out decades-old lies about the impacts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and permanent normal trade relations with China.
"Thirty years ago, the economic elite and political establishment in both major parties told us not to worry about the loss of blue-collar manufacturing jobs that would come as a result of disastrous unfettered free trade agreements," he said. "They promised that those lost jobs would be more than offset by the many good-paying, white-collar information technology jobs that would be created in the United States."
Sanders stressed that "not only have corporations exported millions of blue-collar manufacturing jobs to China, Mexico, and other low-wage countries, they are now importing hundreds of thousands of low-paid guest workers from abroad to fill the white-collar technology jobs that are available."
"At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when the richest three people in America now own more wealth than the bottom half of our country, and when the CEOs of major corporations make almost 300 times more than their average workers, we need fundamental changes in our economic policies," he concluded. "We need an economy that works for all, not just the few. And one important way forward in that direction is to bring about major reforms in the H-1B program."
Other progressives echoed the senator—including Nina Turner, who co-chaired his 2020 presidential campaign and said on Thursday that "Sen. Sanders is right. We must stand against worker exploitation in all forms, be it American workers, workers overseas, or immigrant workers here in America. The ruling class wants cheap labor and will game any system to secure it."
Like Turner, Howard University professor Ron Hira, who co-authored the book Outsourcing America, also weighed in on X.
"Sen. Sanders has been leading the fight for H-1B reform for 20 years," Hira said Thursday. "He's made floor speeches and was the only 2016 Dem presidential candidate to publicly criticize Disney for replacing its U.S. workers with H-1Bs. His framing is exactly right. CEOs are trying to pull a fast one."
'The 'nationalist right' and 'tech right' are fighting a 'venomous culture war' in MAGA World
Donald Trump with Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, House Speaker Mike Johnson, RFK Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump Jr, Dana White, and Kid Rock on November 16, 2024 (Wikimedia Commons)
Musk was a generous donor to Trump's campaign. But Musk and Ramaswamy, in late 2024, have been drawing vehement criticism from other MAGA Republicans after voicing their support for the use of immigrant workers in the tech sector.
The Atlantic's Ari Breland, in an article published on December 30, details the rage that MAGA nativists have been expressing against Trump's picks to lead DOGE.
That rage, according to Breland, has been coming from MAGA firebrand Laura Loomer, "War Room" host Steve Bannon and others.
"Elon Musk spent Christmas Day online, in the thick of a particularly venomous culture war — one that would lead him to later make the un-Christmas-like demand of his critics to 'take a big step back and F--K YOURSELF in the face," Breland explains. "Donald Trump had ignited this war by appointing the venture-capitalist Sriram Krishnan to be his senior AI-policy adviser. Encouraged by the MAGA acolyte and expert troll Laura Loomer, parts of the far-right internet melted down, arguing that Krishnan's appointment symbolized a betrayal of the principles of the 'America First' movement."
Breland adds, "Krishnan is an Indian immigrant and a U.S. citizen who, by virtue of his heritage, became a totem for the MAGA right to argue about H-1B visas, which allow certain skilled immigrants to work in the United States."
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy has infuriated nativists by praising the strong work ethic of immigrant tech experts.
"The tech right and nationalist right are separate but overlapping factions that operated in tandem to help get Trump reelected," Breland reports. "Now, they are at odds. For possibly the first time since Trump's victory, the racial animus and nativism that galvanized the nationalist right cannot immediately be reconciled with the tech right's desire to effectively conquer the world — and cosmos, in Musk's case — using any possible advantage. After winning the election together, one side was going to have to lose."
This MAGA "skirmish," according to Breland, "is a preview of how tension between the tech right and the nationalist right may play out once Trump takes office."
"The nationalists will likely get most of what they want," Breland predicts. "Trump has already promised mass deportations, to their delight. But when they butt heads with Silicon Valley, Trump will likely defer to his wealthiest friends."
Read The Atlantic's full article at this link (subscription required).
Donald Trump with Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, House Speaker Mike Johnson, RFK Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump Jr, Dana White, and Kid Rock on November 16, 2024 (Wikimedia Commons)
December 30, 2024
ALTERNET
Billionaire Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and MAGA businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were aggressive supporters of Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential race, and the president-elect has tapped them to head a new advisory commission that he has proposed: the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Although Ramaswamy ran against Trump in the GOP presidential primary, his criticism of him was mild; Ramaswamy was much more forceful in his attacks on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, another primary candidate. And he ended up dropping out of the race and giving Trump a glowing endorsement.
Billionaire Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and MAGA businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were aggressive supporters of Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential race, and the president-elect has tapped them to head a new advisory commission that he has proposed: the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Although Ramaswamy ran against Trump in the GOP presidential primary, his criticism of him was mild; Ramaswamy was much more forceful in his attacks on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, another primary candidate. And he ended up dropping out of the race and giving Trump a glowing endorsement.
Musk was a generous donor to Trump's campaign. But Musk and Ramaswamy, in late 2024, have been drawing vehement criticism from other MAGA Republicans after voicing their support for the use of immigrant workers in the tech sector.
The Atlantic's Ari Breland, in an article published on December 30, details the rage that MAGA nativists have been expressing against Trump's picks to lead DOGE.
That rage, according to Breland, has been coming from MAGA firebrand Laura Loomer, "War Room" host Steve Bannon and others.
"Elon Musk spent Christmas Day online, in the thick of a particularly venomous culture war — one that would lead him to later make the un-Christmas-like demand of his critics to 'take a big step back and F--K YOURSELF in the face," Breland explains. "Donald Trump had ignited this war by appointing the venture-capitalist Sriram Krishnan to be his senior AI-policy adviser. Encouraged by the MAGA acolyte and expert troll Laura Loomer, parts of the far-right internet melted down, arguing that Krishnan's appointment symbolized a betrayal of the principles of the 'America First' movement."
Breland adds, "Krishnan is an Indian immigrant and a U.S. citizen who, by virtue of his heritage, became a totem for the MAGA right to argue about H-1B visas, which allow certain skilled immigrants to work in the United States."
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy has infuriated nativists by praising the strong work ethic of immigrant tech experts.
"The tech right and nationalist right are separate but overlapping factions that operated in tandem to help get Trump reelected," Breland reports. "Now, they are at odds. For possibly the first time since Trump's victory, the racial animus and nativism that galvanized the nationalist right cannot immediately be reconciled with the tech right's desire to effectively conquer the world — and cosmos, in Musk's case — using any possible advantage. After winning the election together, one side was going to have to lose."
This MAGA "skirmish," according to Breland, "is a preview of how tension between the tech right and the nationalist right may play out once Trump takes office."
"The nationalists will likely get most of what they want," Breland predicts. "Trump has already promised mass deportations, to their delight. But when they butt heads with Silicon Valley, Trump will likely defer to his wealthiest friends."
Read The Atlantic's full article at this link (subscription required).
Progressives Say GOP's H-1B Visa Feud Distracts From Real Problem: 'Billionaire Robber Barons'
"Billionaires want you to wage a culture war while they win the class war," said one critic.
Elon Musk speaks at an event on November 29, 2023 in New York City.
(Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times)
Julia Conley
Dec 29, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
Progressive commentators on Saturday weighed in on a dayslong dispute between Republican President-elect Donald Trump's billionaire tech industry backers and far-right MAGA allies over the H-1B guest worker program—saying the program's right-wing supporters and detractors alike aim to distract from the real threat to workers: the billionaire CEOs who exploit both American employees and those who come from abroad.
"Billionaires want you to wage a culture war while they win the class war," said Warren Gunnels, a top adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on Friday night.
Gunnels' comments came after Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who spent $277 million to help Trump get elected this year, vowed to go to "war" to protect the H-1B program, which grants temporary visas to highly educated foreign professionals who work in specialized fields such as technology, medicine, and engineering.
Silicon Valley heavily relies on guest workers with H-1B visas, and Tesla, Musk's electric vehicle company, obtained 724 of the visas this year. Musk, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in South Africa, has said he also personally benefited from the program.
Musk—who has spoken out against immigration overall—said he would defend the program after far-right activist Laura Loomer criticized Sriram Krishnan, who Trump named as senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence, over his previous support for making it easier for highly educated foreign workers to come to the U.S. Loomer said the policy was "in direct opposition" to the anti-immigration agenda embraced by Trump, who has vowed to oversee a mass deportation operation.
Trump on Saturday expressed support for Musk's position, saying he is "a believer in H-1B," which he moved to limit during his first term.
"The problem is the oligarchs who became billionaires by exploiting workers, suppressing wages, and shipping jobs abroad."
"I have many H-1B visas on my properties," Trump told The New York Post. "I have used it many times. It's a great program."
Labor rights advocates have raised concerns that workers who come to the U.S. with H-1B visas are vulnerable to exploitation by their employers.
Last year, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) noted in a report that H-1B visas were not being used to "fill genuine labor shortages in skilled occupations without negatively impacting U.S. workers' wages and working conditions." The program's biggest users were companies that laid off thousands of workers in 2022 and 2023.
"The rest of the companies that dominate the program have an outsourcing business model that exploits the program by underpaying skilled migrant workers and offshoring U.S. jobs," wrote Daniel Costa, EPI's director of immigration law and policy research, and Ron Hira, a research associate and job offshoring expert who is also a professor at Howard University.
On the social media platform X on Friday, Hira wrote that "employers favor guest workers because they have fewer rights and less bargaining power."
In 2023, Hira and Costa called on the Biden administration to close the "outsourcing loophole" in the H-1B program by requiring companies that hire visa holders to file labor condition applications and to ensure the H-1B workers are paid a fair wage—steps that would promote fairer treatment of all workers.
Gunnels pointed out that when Sanders was first elected to the Senate nearly two decades ago, he introduced an amendment that would have "increased the fees companies pay to hire H-1B guest workers to fund scholarships for Americans pursuing degrees in science, engineering, and math"—supporting U.S.-born and foreign workers. The amendment did not become law despite passing 59-35.
The bipartisan budget deal that Musk helped to kill earlier this month included a similar provision, Gunnels said.
"Billionaires want you to wage a culture war while they win the class war," said one critic.
Elon Musk speaks at an event on November 29, 2023 in New York City.
(Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times)
Julia Conley
Dec 29, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
Progressive commentators on Saturday weighed in on a dayslong dispute between Republican President-elect Donald Trump's billionaire tech industry backers and far-right MAGA allies over the H-1B guest worker program—saying the program's right-wing supporters and detractors alike aim to distract from the real threat to workers: the billionaire CEOs who exploit both American employees and those who come from abroad.
"Billionaires want you to wage a culture war while they win the class war," said Warren Gunnels, a top adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on Friday night.
Gunnels' comments came after Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who spent $277 million to help Trump get elected this year, vowed to go to "war" to protect the H-1B program, which grants temporary visas to highly educated foreign professionals who work in specialized fields such as technology, medicine, and engineering.
Silicon Valley heavily relies on guest workers with H-1B visas, and Tesla, Musk's electric vehicle company, obtained 724 of the visas this year. Musk, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in South Africa, has said he also personally benefited from the program.
Musk—who has spoken out against immigration overall—said he would defend the program after far-right activist Laura Loomer criticized Sriram Krishnan, who Trump named as senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence, over his previous support for making it easier for highly educated foreign workers to come to the U.S. Loomer said the policy was "in direct opposition" to the anti-immigration agenda embraced by Trump, who has vowed to oversee a mass deportation operation.
Trump on Saturday expressed support for Musk's position, saying he is "a believer in H-1B," which he moved to limit during his first term.
"The problem is the oligarchs who became billionaires by exploiting workers, suppressing wages, and shipping jobs abroad."
"I have many H-1B visas on my properties," Trump told The New York Post. "I have used it many times. It's a great program."
Labor rights advocates have raised concerns that workers who come to the U.S. with H-1B visas are vulnerable to exploitation by their employers.
Last year, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) noted in a report that H-1B visas were not being used to "fill genuine labor shortages in skilled occupations without negatively impacting U.S. workers' wages and working conditions." The program's biggest users were companies that laid off thousands of workers in 2022 and 2023.
"The rest of the companies that dominate the program have an outsourcing business model that exploits the program by underpaying skilled migrant workers and offshoring U.S. jobs," wrote Daniel Costa, EPI's director of immigration law and policy research, and Ron Hira, a research associate and job offshoring expert who is also a professor at Howard University.
On the social media platform X on Friday, Hira wrote that "employers favor guest workers because they have fewer rights and less bargaining power."
"[The U.S. Department of Labor] has set the H-1B minimum wages far below market wages," continued Hira. "Employers can and do pay H-1B workers much less than market rates. While H-1B workers can change jobs, they have far fewer employment options and job mobility than U.S. workers. Many call their employment situation 'indentured servitude' because they are effectively bound to their employer. Employers control the visa so they can exercise extraordinary bargaining power over their H-1B workers on wages and working conditions."
In 2023, Hira and Costa called on the Biden administration to close the "outsourcing loophole" in the H-1B program by requiring companies that hire visa holders to file labor condition applications and to ensure the H-1B workers are paid a fair wage—steps that would promote fairer treatment of all workers.
Gunnels pointed out that when Sanders was first elected to the Senate nearly two decades ago, he introduced an amendment that would have "increased the fees companies pay to hire H-1B guest workers to fund scholarships for Americans pursuing degrees in science, engineering, and math"—supporting U.S.-born and foreign workers. The amendment did not become law despite passing 59-35.
The bipartisan budget deal that Musk helped to kill earlier this month included a similar provision, Gunnels said.
Musk said last week that the H-1B visa program is needed because of a "permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent" in the U.S., while Vivek Ramaswamy, a billionaire entrepreneur who Trump has chosen to run his proposed Department of Government Efficiency along with Musk, said U.S. culture "has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long" and advised Americans to look to a future with "more math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons."
Krystal Ball, co-host of the online news show "Breaking Points," said the feud between Trump's MAGA allies and his Big Tech supporters promoted two distinct lies.
"Trumpism pushes the lie that if you are struggling it's because of immigrants and trans people," said Ball. "Elon and Vivek are pushing the traditional GOP lie that if you are struggling it's your own fucking fault. The truth is if you are struggling it's likely because of billionaire robber barons like Trump, Elon, and Vivek, who rig the rules to screw regular people."
Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner added that American corporations, not workers, have a "culture problem."
"This is about corporations squeezing every last penny out of anyone and anything they can," said Turner. "This framing that American workers have a 'culture problem' and aren't 'motivated' is quite telling, given where it's coming from: billionaire CEOs. What does 'motivated' mean? To them, it seems that it means the threat of being sent back overseas."
Contrary to the dueling GOP narratives on display in recent days, the problem facing American workers is "not the H-1B guest worker from India or the tomato picker from Guatemala," said Gunnels. "The problem is the oligarchs who became billionaires by exploiting workers, suppressing wages, and shipping jobs abroad."
Krystal Ball, co-host of the online news show "Breaking Points," said the feud between Trump's MAGA allies and his Big Tech supporters promoted two distinct lies.
"Trumpism pushes the lie that if you are struggling it's because of immigrants and trans people," said Ball. "Elon and Vivek are pushing the traditional GOP lie that if you are struggling it's your own fucking fault. The truth is if you are struggling it's likely because of billionaire robber barons like Trump, Elon, and Vivek, who rig the rules to screw regular people."
Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner added that American corporations, not workers, have a "culture problem."
"This is about corporations squeezing every last penny out of anyone and anything they can," said Turner. "This framing that American workers have a 'culture problem' and aren't 'motivated' is quite telling, given where it's coming from: billionaire CEOs. What does 'motivated' mean? To them, it seems that it means the threat of being sent back overseas."
Contrary to the dueling GOP narratives on display in recent days, the problem facing American workers is "not the H-1B guest worker from India or the tomato picker from Guatemala," said Gunnels. "The problem is the oligarchs who became billionaires by exploiting workers, suppressing wages, and shipping jobs abroad."
How visas for skilled foreign workers are splitting MAGA in two
Analysis
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other tech titans are warring with some of US President-elect Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters over immigration visas. Trump has backed Musk and praised the use of H-1B visas to bring skilled foreign workers to the United States, but the issue has become a flashpoint that is ruffling the feathers of his electoral base.
Issued on: 31/12/2024
By: Sébastian SEIBT
Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Laura Loomer are shown in this composite illustration. © FRANCE 24
Trump chose to side with Musk in a December 28 New York Post interview in which he expressed support for immigration visas for highly skilled workers after a fierce debate that had been roiling his MAGA supporters.
“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favour of the visas. That’s why we have them,” the president-elect told the paper. The H-1B visa program allows US companies to hire skilled foreign workers in specialised occupations. No more than 85,000 are issued each year and most are given to tech companies who bring in workers from Asia, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Conflict of interest
But online, the claws came out. Hardline, anti-immigrant MAGA supporters came after Trump’s wealthy tech supporters over the future of H-1B visas and the foreigners who benefit from them.
Some prominent Trump supporters, like conspiracy theorist and anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer, said these visas were an open door to mass immigration. Others, like Musk, defended the visa program as a way to attract the “top 0.1% of engineering talent”.
Maybe this is a helpful clarification: I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1% of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning.
This is like bringing in the Jokic’s or Wemby’s of the world to help your whole team (which is mostly… https://t.co/mtd0cgkNvE— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) December 26, 2024
The battle began in earnest when Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American venture capitalist who previously worked for Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter and is said to be a close friend of Musk, was appointed by Trump in late December to be a senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence.
The move prompted Loomer, who is known for her unwavering support of Trump, to unleash an online tirade. She claimed on X that Krishnan wanted to “remove all restrictions on green card caps” so that foreigners could “take jobs that should be given” to US citizens, and that he loved “mass migration”. The Trump appointment, she added, was “in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda”.
Musk, who was born in South Africa, claims he was issued a H-1B visa before later becoming a US citizen. He responded swiftly and violently.
“I will go to war on this issue,” he wrote on X. The Tesla boss didn’t refrain from using profanities to attack his critics. “Take a big step back and F*CK YOURSELF in the face,” he wrote.
The great Republican divide
Steve Bannon, former White House strategist under Trump and a far-right influencer, stepped in and things escalated. Coming to Loomer’s rescue on his War Room podcast, he called the H-1B visa program a “total scam” and said, “we are going to get H-1B visas out, root and stem, and all the workers you brought in”.
“Just like we are deporting 15 million here, we want them deported – out,” Bannon said. “And give those jobs to American citizens today.”
Tech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-chair the Trump-proposed "Department of Government Efficiency" with Musk, took the opposite stance.
“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence,” he wrote in a long X post that argued foreign workers benefit the US. “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 added.
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if…— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 26, 2024
As the online war over H-1B visas raged, Musk used one of the strongest weapons in his arsenal, according to Loomer. She said Musk removed her blue check mark on X because she “dared to question his support for H1B visas” and that she was now “demonetised” – in other words, no longer guaranteed a share of the advertising revenue generated by her most viral tweets.
On the left, Democrats seemingly revelled in what they called a “civil war” within the MAGA movement.
“It is both an ideological war and a war of influence,” said Thomas Gift, director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London. The expert recalled that Republicans have always been torn between taking advantage of cheap foreign labour, which allows US companies to minimise their costs while remaining competitive, and a more radical “nativist” stance – the belief that every job given to a foreigner would deprive a “native-born” US citizen of an opportunity.
“What is different is that in the Trump era, the debate is [being fuelled] by violent words,” Gift noted.
Walking the supporter tightrope
The two sides of the pro-Trump camp are also trying to figure out who will have the most influence on the future president. In recent weeks, Musk has been able to count on a parade of support from top Silicon Valley bosses at Mar-a-Lago. “There is no doubt that Big Tech leaders [like Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos] have addressed the issue of H-1B visas,” Gift said.
“Tech bosses who support Trump have wind in their sails at the moment, and the money to make themselves heard,” underlined Jérôme Viala-Gaudefroy, a lecturer at Sciences Po Paris specialising in the United States.
“They have more of a class approach to immigration, as opposed to a racial approach, which is definitely the case for Loomer,” he added. In other words, for them, the “right” immigrant is not necessarily White, but absolutely must be highly skilled or already privileged.
This division in Trumpland has erupted before the official inauguration on January 20. But “let’s not kid ourselves”, Gift said. “With the midterm elections in two years’ time, it is clear that most of the important decisions will be taken at the start of his presidency – so both sides are looking to make moves now,” he added.
Trump being in favour of H-1B visas “marks a change in his rhetoric”, Gift observed. For him, the president-elect is lying when he says he has always been in favour of the visa. “He has changed position several times, and in 2016 he even promised to scrap the program,” Viala-Gaudefroy added.
While the debate is a first win for Musk, it is one that could be dangerous for Trump’s base. Loomer and Bannon “represent a significant chunk of the voters that brought Trump to victory”, Viala-Gaudefroy pointed out.
The most radical MAGA factions will surely want to avenge themselves on the Big Tech bosses, and there will be no shortage of opportunities. “H-1B visas are just the first battle in this war of influence,” said Gift.
Viala-Gaudefroy predicted that another flashpoint will be China, “where Musk has major economic interests”. The X boss may even seek to steer Trump away from one of his key campaign promises, notably, imposing heavy tariffs on China.
This article was translated from the original in French by Lara Bullens.
Analysis
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other tech titans are warring with some of US President-elect Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters over immigration visas. Trump has backed Musk and praised the use of H-1B visas to bring skilled foreign workers to the United States, but the issue has become a flashpoint that is ruffling the feathers of his electoral base.
Issued on: 31/12/2024
By: Sébastian SEIBT
FRANCE24
Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Laura Loomer are shown in this composite illustration. © FRANCE 24Trump chose to side with Musk in a December 28 New York Post interview in which he expressed support for immigration visas for highly skilled workers after a fierce debate that had been roiling his MAGA supporters.
“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favour of the visas. That’s why we have them,” the president-elect told the paper. The H-1B visa program allows US companies to hire skilled foreign workers in specialised occupations. No more than 85,000 are issued each year and most are given to tech companies who bring in workers from Asia, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Conflict of interest
But online, the claws came out. Hardline, anti-immigrant MAGA supporters came after Trump’s wealthy tech supporters over the future of H-1B visas and the foreigners who benefit from them.
Some prominent Trump supporters, like conspiracy theorist and anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer, said these visas were an open door to mass immigration. Others, like Musk, defended the visa program as a way to attract the “top 0.1% of engineering talent”.
Maybe this is a helpful clarification: I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1% of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning.
This is like bringing in the Jokic’s or Wemby’s of the world to help your whole team (which is mostly… https://t.co/mtd0cgkNvE— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) December 26, 2024
The battle began in earnest when Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American venture capitalist who previously worked for Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter and is said to be a close friend of Musk, was appointed by Trump in late December to be a senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence.
The move prompted Loomer, who is known for her unwavering support of Trump, to unleash an online tirade. She claimed on X that Krishnan wanted to “remove all restrictions on green card caps” so that foreigners could “take jobs that should be given” to US citizens, and that he loved “mass migration”. The Trump appointment, she added, was “in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda”.
Musk, who was born in South Africa, claims he was issued a H-1B visa before later becoming a US citizen. He responded swiftly and violently.
“I will go to war on this issue,” he wrote on X. The Tesla boss didn’t refrain from using profanities to attack his critics. “Take a big step back and F*CK YOURSELF in the face,” he wrote.
The great Republican divide
Steve Bannon, former White House strategist under Trump and a far-right influencer, stepped in and things escalated. Coming to Loomer’s rescue on his War Room podcast, he called the H-1B visa program a “total scam” and said, “we are going to get H-1B visas out, root and stem, and all the workers you brought in”.
“Just like we are deporting 15 million here, we want them deported – out,” Bannon said. “And give those jobs to American citizens today.”
Tech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-chair the Trump-proposed "Department of Government Efficiency" with Musk, took the opposite stance.
“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence,” he wrote in a long X post that argued foreign workers benefit the US. “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 added.
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if…— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 26, 2024
As the online war over H-1B visas raged, Musk used one of the strongest weapons in his arsenal, according to Loomer. She said Musk removed her blue check mark on X because she “dared to question his support for H1B visas” and that she was now “demonetised” – in other words, no longer guaranteed a share of the advertising revenue generated by her most viral tweets.
On the left, Democrats seemingly revelled in what they called a “civil war” within the MAGA movement.
“It is both an ideological war and a war of influence,” said Thomas Gift, director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London. The expert recalled that Republicans have always been torn between taking advantage of cheap foreign labour, which allows US companies to minimise their costs while remaining competitive, and a more radical “nativist” stance – the belief that every job given to a foreigner would deprive a “native-born” US citizen of an opportunity.
“What is different is that in the Trump era, the debate is [being fuelled] by violent words,” Gift noted.
Walking the supporter tightrope
The two sides of the pro-Trump camp are also trying to figure out who will have the most influence on the future president. In recent weeks, Musk has been able to count on a parade of support from top Silicon Valley bosses at Mar-a-Lago. “There is no doubt that Big Tech leaders [like Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos] have addressed the issue of H-1B visas,” Gift said.
“Tech bosses who support Trump have wind in their sails at the moment, and the money to make themselves heard,” underlined Jérôme Viala-Gaudefroy, a lecturer at Sciences Po Paris specialising in the United States.
“They have more of a class approach to immigration, as opposed to a racial approach, which is definitely the case for Loomer,” he added. In other words, for them, the “right” immigrant is not necessarily White, but absolutely must be highly skilled or already privileged.
This division in Trumpland has erupted before the official inauguration on January 20. But “let’s not kid ourselves”, Gift said. “With the midterm elections in two years’ time, it is clear that most of the important decisions will be taken at the start of his presidency – so both sides are looking to make moves now,” he added.
Trump being in favour of H-1B visas “marks a change in his rhetoric”, Gift observed. For him, the president-elect is lying when he says he has always been in favour of the visa. “He has changed position several times, and in 2016 he even promised to scrap the program,” Viala-Gaudefroy added.
While the debate is a first win for Musk, it is one that could be dangerous for Trump’s base. Loomer and Bannon “represent a significant chunk of the voters that brought Trump to victory”, Viala-Gaudefroy pointed out.
The most radical MAGA factions will surely want to avenge themselves on the Big Tech bosses, and there will be no shortage of opportunities. “H-1B visas are just the first battle in this war of influence,” said Gift.
Viala-Gaudefroy predicted that another flashpoint will be China, “where Musk has major economic interests”. The X boss may even seek to steer Trump away from one of his key campaign promises, notably, imposing heavy tariffs on China.
This article was translated from the original in French by Lara Bullens.
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