Elon vs. Trump faithful face off in MAGA's small-minded spat

Adolescent online fighting offers a stark preview of coming distractions

As this volatile year nears its end, most of the talk being hurled around the incoming administration is minimally focused on plans for the country’s future, for better or for authoritarianism. Instead, it remains trained on MAGA’s adolescent civil war between Trump’s most vocal supporters and his co-president, Elon Musk.

Musk’s honeymoon in the MAGA-sphere—though destined to combust—appears to be ending weeks before the administration has officially launched. While most of us were celebrating our holidays, Elon was holed up in some supervillain cyber vehicle, waging a fight with the very people whose voices and ideologies he spent months amplifying.

Trump created the problem, as is his way, by proposing the appointment of Srinam Krishnan, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist with whom Musk has consulted closely, as his senior policy advisor on AI. Putting forth Krishnan is apparently more outrageous than choosing an alleged sex offender and financial mismanager for defense secretary; a woman who’s been enthusiastically green-lit by the Kremlin for director of national security; or an anti-vaxxer (who dumped a bear he intended to eat in Central Park) to lead health and human services. But Krishnan caused the crater within MAGA this holiday season…because he’s a naturalized American citizen who was born in India and recruited here because of his tech expertise.

He’s remained here thanks to our H1B program, which offers visas to highly skilled foreign workers. Such a laudable program, which celebrates American values and could have been deftly supported, was instead publicly advocated for by Musk via increasingly hysterical posts capped with awkward attempts at wedging in sports references.

“I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1% of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning.”

Like his co-president, Elon doesn’t handle criticism with a notable amount of grace.

“The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low.”

Naturally, he was backed up by his fellow unelected co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Vivek Ramaswamy, who tweeted a tirade that delved into misplaced parenting advice while referencing shows like Saved by the Bell and Family Matters, to really drive home his point that…well, that remains unclear. But it included emphatic statements (and windows into his high school experience, perhaps?) such as:

“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”

I trust you can imagine how Trump’s “America First” base responded.

Disgraced former Representative and future OAN host Matt Gaetz tweeted:

“We welcomed the tech bros when they came running our way to avoid the 3rd grade teacher picking their kid’s gender - and the obvious Biden/Harris economic decline. We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy.”

Thanks for that clarity, Matt. Let’s keep underage issues out of it, shall we?

A more lucid, no less offensive take was offered by Ann Coulter, who wrote:

“American workers can leave a company. Imported H1B workers can't. Tech wants indentured servants, not “high-skilled” workers.”

And Laura Loomer, who had her Twitter verification stripped away by Elon over this argument, wrote:

VivekGRamaswamy knows that the Great Replacement is real. So does JDVance. It’s not racist against Indians to want the original MAGA policies I voted for. I voted for a reduction in H1B visas. Not an extension. And I would happily say it to their face because there’s nothing inflammatory about what I said. Everything I said is true. If India was so high skilled people would stay there instead of flocking to the US. You’re not going to shame me into tempering my thoughts. I really am past the point of giving a fuck. The tech billionaires don’t get to just walk inside Mar a Lago and stroke their massive checkbooks and rewrite our immigration policy so they can have unlimited slave laborers from India and China who never assimilate.

Laura, nobody’s going to shame you into tempering your “thoughts.” You shame yourself into it. (Unsurprisingly, the far-right mouthpiece couldn’t handle being censored from her primary means of complaining, so has since offered a groveling public apology to Krishnan because she “accidentally doxxed” him. Blue check restored.)

But that occurred after Elon flexed his fighting spirit and showed his appreciation for himself and other immigrants who made America strong. He also revealed elementary eloquence, waxing:

“The reason I'm in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”

To which Steve Bannon replied:

“Someone please notify 'Child Protective Services' - need to do a 'wellness check' on this toddler”

That whole merry exchange is just a minuscule sampling of the hundreds of tweets that consumed the platform over the holidays, exposing the vast divide and polarization within the loudest faction of this GOP.

Consider this: the wealthiest person on the planet, who has the resources to do anything on earth, or be anywhere on earth (or beyond!) opted to spend his holidays sparring online with an assortment of racists (whose voices he, again, chose to elevate). If you ever needed to disabuse yourself of the notion that money buys happiness, look no further than Elon Musk and his pathetic existence.

Also, isn’t he supposed to be part of the administration whose modus operandi is that they’re bringing back Christmas? Those evil communist Marxist Democrats stole Christmas from the Department Stores and forged a war on it, right? But now that Trump is entering office, the sacred, holy holiday has been revived and restored to… online bickering? Must be those family values kicking back into gear.

Let’s put aside Elon’s miserable vacation and zoom out for the larger portrait of conflict and folly: Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help Trump win the presidency, which was run on his xenophobic platform and promise of deporting immigrants. Now he’s baffled that Trump’s rabid base of unrepentant racists are still committed to white supremacy? Once again, “Man votes for Leopards Eating Faces Party…did not think Leopards would eat his face, too.”

Safe to assume that this fight is not going to end well. Or end at all. This is a hill that Elon will die on, for obvious reasons: He’s a former H1B visa immigrant who owns businesses that, no doubt, rely on H1B visa recipients to function. But it’s also a hill that the original MAGA faithful (you know, those who attempted a coup on our Capitol before the oligarchs became part of Trump’s traveling circus) will die on. Trump’s agenda is “America First.” His campaign handed out “Deport Them All” signs at rallies.

So they were both fooled. The MAGA loyalists will take it worse, once they recognize (if they haven’t already) that they unwittingly installed into power an unelected foreign oligarch who’s going to use Trump to expand immigration programs that they hate. And there’s nothing they can do about it; Elon is the de facto president.

Which is not to suggest that he is in a position of triumph. Remember, Musk is a sad little man who so desperately craves the rousing approval of the MAGA base that he spent the better part of a year nurturing them and doing performative jumping jacks for their applause. He needs their adulation; his ego depends on it. And now he’s facing off with those he presumed would be his footsoldiers. Perhaps he is only now becoming fully aware that they are immovable racists who were happy to accept financial help but don’t actually agree with his worldview. They want to elevate white Americans and no one else. So…nobody wins.

I sincerely hope this goes without saying, but the H1B program is an invaluable channel. We should absolutely bring the best and brightest talent to the United States. If we don’t welcome them here, that talent goes to other countries. In other words, there’s an “America First” incentive to continue investing in such programs. Of course, MAGA doesn’t care. For them, that brand is about promoting white Americans. It’s not concerned with helping the nation as a whole.

Meanwhile, the irony of Musk’s position is that Democrats understand the value of embracing immigrants and welcoming high-skilled labor from other countries, but he opted to throw his wallet and legacy into the “Deport Them All” bucket instead. I guess he just assumed that his super radical syntax and limitless checkbook would ease his passage into any gang. He had taxes to consider (or to not consider, rather). His ego and greed decided for him, and now he’s trapped.

But hey, I’m sure it’ll be a cinch to convince the likes of Steve Bannon, Matt Gaetz, and the frothing MAGA tribe that immigration is for the best, and is what actually makes America great. Best of luck with that.

---

Though these clowns have done their best to dissuade and distract us from doing so, I sincerely hope everyone had a merry Christmas, is having a happy Hanukkah, and is enjoying celebrations with loved ones. Try to avoid fighting with strangers on the internet, at least for the next few days. And sincere thanks to you for taking a little bit of your day to read my take on our political climate and the ongoing battle to preserve our democracy. I wish you all a safe and healthy new year.

Thanks again for your support, both for me and for independent media. I’ll be back in 2025.