Welp, we guess the MAGA honeymoon is over...
With January right around the corner, the transfer of power to President-elect Donald Trump is soon to be expected. But there seems to be a lot of trouble in Trump’s MAGA paradise that could disrupt the whole thing.
One of the most pressing issues for the country continues to be immigration, and CEO of Telsa Motors Elon Musk, who was also named Trump’s co-director of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is in the middle of all of the drama. So let’s break it all down.
The Real Issue With Immigration
The beef is all stemming from Musk’s disapproval of Republican efforts to impose stricter immigration efforts. Specifically, Musk is criticizing Republicans, like far-right personality Laura Loomer, who want to completely get rid of H1-B visa. For those that don’t know, H1-B allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for specialized occupations— typically in the tech world.
The end of H1-B means migrant tech workers wouldn’t be allowed to work in America, and Musk, who originally came to the U.S. on a H1-B visa himself, just isn’t having it! More than that, his company, Tesla, directly benefits from H1-B. According to USA Today, Musk obtained 724 of the visas for Tesaa in 2024.
Trump, on the flip side, has emphasized his plans for mass deportations, but Musk has brought up a good point: What about the talented immigrant tech workers who are the backbone of America?
“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,” Musk responded on X. He even promised to “go to war” on the issue at hand.
Musk Claims Certain Republicans Are ‘Racist’
The debate among the Republican party has been brewing for a while now. Even before Christmas, MAGA figures like DOGE co-director Vivek Ramaswamy and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, were split on whether H1-B should be tossed or kept. But everything went up in flames when Musk got involved.
In a series of tweets, Musk flat out called these anti-immigration Republicans “contemptible fools...” ouch. The X CEO clarified he’s referring to “those in the Republican Party who are hateful, unrepentant racists. They will absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed.”
For Musk the debate is simple. “The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” he wrote on X. He broke it down further saying this is “like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win.”
Trump Takes a Stance
As of now, Trump is siding with his billionaire buddies Musk and Ramaswamy. Trump told The New York Post in an interview “I’ve always liked the [H1-B] visas.” He continued saying “I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them.”
But here’s the thing... Trump ran his entire campaign on the promise to be strict on immigration. So now, many far-right MAGA supporters are saying Trump is going soft. All we know is with a major riff happening within the Republican party already, the next four years is set to be nothing short of... interesting.