Maga vs the billionaires
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Donald Trump hasn’t even taken office yet, but his strange political coalition of anti-immigrant Maga supporters and globalist billionaires is already starting to unravel.
The most recent reason was the appointment of Sriram Krishnan as Trump’s senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence , like Musk, wants to make it easier for skilled foreign workers to enter the U.S. on temporary H-1B visas.
While Silicon Valley depends on these visas because of a shortage of skilled tech workers in the US, the Maga crowd opposes them, not only because they favor foreign workers, but also because they can drive down US tech wages. According to a 2020 paper by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, 60 percent of H1-B visa holders from the top 30 employers end up paying more than the local median wage for the jobs in question. very low.Trump’s own position on this has, surprisingly, deviated. While he now appears to support the visas, in 2016 he called them a “cheap labor program.”
The rift sparked a viral online debate between Musk and Maga activist Laura Loomer, a self-proclaimed “proud Islamophobe” who wants H1-B jobs to go to American science, technology, engineering and math students. “Our country was built by white Europeans. . . Not third world invaders from India,” he wrote on X. “I voted for Maga’s original policy against Indians. I voted to cut H-1B visas, not extend them.”
Meanwhile, Musk defended the visas, writing: “The reason I’m in America, like so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong, is because of the H1B. Take a big step back and YOU MAKE UP YOUR FACE. I will go to war over this issue, the likes of which you cannot understand.”
There are many lessons to be learned from this, but as is often the case with anything involving Trump, I wish the cast of characters illustrating them were a little less toxic.
Loomer’s posts are xenophobic, but brave to stand up to Musk and raise an important issue: how to make sure US workers are adequately supported in the face of global competition, a fact that the state has failed to do since the late 1980s to do in the manufacturing sector is one of the reasons why America started Trump.
Musk, on the other hand, is a self-interested hyper-capitalist who doesn’t want to use his power to scare people.Loomer claims he lost his X endorsement badge and the ability to monetize his posts after getting into a fight with him online.
But he’s also quite right that America needs far more engineers than it has. Moreover, the South African-born entrepreneur’s success, like that of many in Silicon Valley and the US C-suite, reflects America’s greatest strength. . its openness to immigrants.
This fight is important because it reflects a fundamental rift in Trump’s coalition that will only grow. The big crowd and the globalists disagree not only on immigration, but also on defense, jobs, and free speech : Now that they have, I think it’s unlikely they’ll rally around anything else.
There are two other things to say about the H1-B dust-up. First, Democrats are already making hay with the divisions that have emerged in Trumpland. A memo written last week by a small group of lawyers, entrepreneurs and academics noted that the “Lumer-Musk standoff is a unique opportunity for the Republicans.” to build a coalition with disgruntled factions of the party,” including those concerned about the tech oligarchy, free speech, workers’ rights, and national security. On the latter point, Musk’s business dealings in China and reported conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin have already raised concerns among the defense community.
The memo drew positive reactions from some senior officials and former officials on the left, as well as academics, analysts and union consultants.Late last week, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders weighed in, accusing Musk of pushing H1-Bs to get “cheaper” workers. , not smarter.
Watch this space carefully.The struggle between Republicans and Democrats for the working class will be the defining political struggle of the next four years and beyond.
Second, while I’m surprised to write this, Trump himself actually has a policy idea that could help boost the number of Americans qualified for good tech jobs transfer credits from other colleges and universities, helping to push back rising tuition costs and student debt.The left-leaning Washington Monthly magazine recently praised the idea.
This kind of online education, along with programs that graduate high school students with two-year college degrees, is an obvious way to quickly train more tech workers.My one caveat: please appoint someone other than Musk or Loomer.
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