Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of X, SpaceX, and Tesla, has ignited a political storm after endorsing a controversial social media post suggesting Americans were too “retarded” to be hired for skilled jobs.
The article, shared by a pro-Musk accounts, criticized divisions within the democratic right over H-1B visas, saying,” The tech right is like,’ We need H-1B visa people to do the jobs,’ and the straight right is like,’ No, you need to use Americans.’ The technical right is like,’ But you guys are r*****,’ and the straight right is like,’ Well, you don’t teach us,’ and the tech right is like,’ You doesn’t outtrain being retarded.'”
Musk replied,” That pretty much sums it up”, adding,” This was eye-opening”.
The remarks came shortly after Musk defended one of his designers who had been accused of making sexist, anti-White remarks, causing even more conflict in his mind regarding his opinions on immigration laws and the US workforce.
Ramaswamy defends unusual skill
Adding to the controversy, Vivek Ramaswamy, co-chair of President-elect Donald Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ), faced backlash for his comments attributing the lack of competitive American engineers to cultural issues. ” It’s not because of an innate American IQ deficit ( a lazy &, wrong explanation ). It all comes down to the c-word: society”, Ramaswamy posted on social media. He criticized American political values, stating,” Movies glorify the prom queen, never the mathematics Olympiad hero. That attitude won’t produce the best designers”.
Ramaswamy cautioned that the US might be at a disadvantage if it fails to handle this social issue. ” Normalcy doesn’t slice it in a hyper-competitive worldwide market for technical expertise. If we believe like it does, we’ll include our a**es handed to us by China”, he wrote.
Haley and MAGA basic retreat
Former US Ambassador Nikki Haley immediately responded, defending British society and staff. There is nothing wrong with British workers or lifestyle. All you need to do is to look at the borders and observe how many people want what we have. We should be investing in and prioritizing Americans, not foreign workers”, Haley posted on X ( formerly Twitter ).
The feedback also deepened groups within Trump’s center. Activist Laura Loomer criticized Indian-origin walk entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan, who was lately appointed as Trump’s Senior Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence. According to Loreker, Krishnan allegedly violated the” America First” plan by arguing that his support for lifting the country cap on natural cards would discredit American STEM graduates in particular.
According to liberal pundit Scott Greer, removing the country caps would lead to an even greater influx of South Asians into this nation. Trump backers didn’t vote to significantly improve American migration”.
Tech industry officials support immigration changes
Some notable figures in the technology industry defended the need for skilled foreign workers amid the outcry. Richard Hanania, a far-right critic, highlighted the importance of foreign ability to retain US global attractiveness, while David Sacks, a crucial Trump supporter, clarified that Krishnan supports a merit-based green cards program rather than unlimited immigration.
Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir Technologies, supported the changes, saying,” We need the best and brightest to result in AI and systems. Without that, we chance losing our border to nations like China”.
A fractured conservative movement
The escalating discussion highlights a growing gap within the liberal movement as Trump prepares to take business. Some people place a premium on monetary pragmatism and the contribution of foreign talent to the US tech sector, but others still support the” America First” agenda, which raises questions about how these competing objectives will be reconciled by the incoming administration.
