TOI Correspondent from Washington: A fierce skirmish has broken out in the Trumpworld between his so-called “tech cabal” and MAGA nativists, with Indian-Americans and Indian immigrants caught in a crossfire that has taken on an ugly racist tone.
The shootout stemmed from Donald Trump’s statement that Indian-American Sriram Krishnan would be the White House’s policy advisor on artificial intelligence, a choice that had sparked unhysteria in nationalist circles of the MAGA community, which was already rife with concerns about Trump’s alleged influence on “big tech” led by Elon Musk.
Read also: Why Trump supporters are going crazy about Sriram Krishnan and high-skilled Indian immigrants
Immediately, MAGA radical like Trump acolyte Laura Loomer, banished from the President-elect’s inside circle but also loyal to him, were questioning the pull. ” Sriram Krishnan’s appointment as Senior Policy Advisor for AI at the Office of Science and Technology Policy is deeply unsettling. It’s unsettling to see how many job leftists are being chosen to serve in Trump’s administration because they hold positions that directly oppose the president’s America First agenda, Loomer said in a post on X.
Loomer and another MAGA nativists also criticized Krishnan for his earlier posts and podcasts, saying that he was an Indian unionist who was campaigning to raise Indian guest worker visas and green card caps in an effort to deceive Americans who are native-born.
” This is very disturbing. According to you, none of the software professionals who are meeting with Trump and getting appointed to his government backed him in the 2020 or the 2024 key. In a series of articles that also included level racist strikes on India and Indians and was also directed at Elon Musk, who is extremely viewed as the most powerful person in the Trump group, I feel like many of them are trying to get into Trump’s administration to expand themselves and find deals at DOD, Loomer wrote.
Musk in switch defended Trump’s decision to hire Sriram, his long-term partner, furthering the point that the US needs to get the best and brightest from all over the world to keep its position of supremacy. He likewise endorsed the argument that experienced emigration, and Indian-Americans in particular, have contributed enormously to the US market, reposting graphs that show them having the highest median earnings of all ethnic groups, nearly double that of white Americans.
Krishnan also found support from other major tech principals, including David Sacks, Trump’s appointed crypto czar, who Trump has tasked Krishnan to work with.
” Sriram has been a US citizen for a decade. He’s not” running America. ” He’s advising on A. I. policy. He won’t have any impact on US immigration policy. These attacks have become crude, and not in the holiday spirit”, Sacks said in a post pushing back at the dodgy MAGA narrative, based on Sriram’s posts, that he could have a role in immigration policy too.
Sacks also argued that Krishnan and Elon Musk collaborated to reclaim Twitter’s free speech and restore MAGA accounts, which were said to have been run by leftists and liberals.
Democrats jumped into the fight in the wake of the immigration laws that gave Krishnan the opportunity to advance his studies, career, and rise in the US. ” Sriram embodies the American Dream—talent, hard work, and contribution to something bigger than himself. The people attacking him aren’t critiquing his credentials, they’re exposing their own insecurities. America succeeds when it embraces merit, not when it panders to bitterness”, Richie Torres, a NewYork lawmaker said.
From Silicon Valley’s Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna:
You idiots criticize @sriramk as Indian-born, criticize @jimmysmith as Taiwanese born, or @jimmysmith as Taiwanese born. It is GREAT that talent around the world wants to come here, not to China, &, that Sriram can rise to the highest levels. It’s called American exceptionalism”.
Loomer and other MAGA hardliners, however, climbed down into a racist rabbit hole by posting crude comments about Indians, arguing that foreign-born executives like Sriram “view Western nations as economic zones and nothing more” and that “people like this have no business holding positions of power in the American government.” Regarded as toxic flame-thrower even in Trump circles, Loomer also made derogatory references to India.
” You shouldn’t be happy about mocking the MAGA base, posting anti-White hatred and saying America can’t be exceptional without Indians. Trump’s support for them is desired by the big tech executives. Trump will pick his supporters. because we have a strong relationship with him. And loyalty matters”, she wrote.
The fact that the US simply does not produce enough qualified STEM graduates to meet the country’s need, not to mention its desire to maintain global dominance, is missing from the MAGA narrative about Indian pre-ponderence and influence in the tech world.
Musk himself made a point about this in a post that read,” As an American with a masters in aerospace engineering, I can tell you there are not enough of us. My graduation at UF ( University of Florida ) was literally about 600 Indians and 10 Americans. The classes weren’t rejecting American students, there was simply not enough supply”,
