Elon Musk will “go to war” to defend the H-1B visa program in the United States, the tech CEO wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Friday night. Musk credited the program as “the reason” he is in the U.S. and added, “Take a big step back and F–K YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
The fight over the H-1B visa program began Monday after Trump surrogate Laura Loomer criticized the president-elect’s nomination of Sriram Krishnan as White House senior policy adviser for Artificial Intelligence. “Our country was built by white Europeans, actually,” Loomer wrote on X. “Not third-world invaders from India. It’s not racist against Indians to want the original MAGA policies I voted for. I voted for a reduction in H-1B visas. Not an extension.”
Trump defended the visa program in a statement to the New York Post Saturday. “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” he said. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”
It is believed that Krishnan supports removing a cap on H-1B visa applications. Both Musk and his fellow DOGE head Vivek Ramaswamy welcomed Krishnan’s nomination. “Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” Ramaswamy wrote on X. “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”
“If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve,” he also said. “‘Normalcy’ doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.”
Musk rose to Ramaswamy’s defense and explained on X, “I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1% of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning. This is like bringing in the Jokic’s or Wemby’s of the world to help your whole team (which is mostly Americans!) win the NBA. Thinking of America as a pro sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning is the right mental construct.”
The pair’s commentary led to an online MAGA conflict that began Thursday. Musk blasted a section of Trump supporters as “contemptible fools” who are “hateful, unrepentant racists” that “will absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed.”
“The point was not to replace DEI, which is one form of racism/sexism, with a different form of racism/sexism, but rather to be a meritocratic society!” Musk also said.
The Telsa CEO issued his all-caps “F–K YOURSELF in the face” defense late Friday night. “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 F–K YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend,” he wrote in full.
Musk, now a naturalized citizen of the United States, initially entered the country on the visa in question. The program allows American employers to hire nonimmigrant employees in “specialty occupations or as fashion models.”
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