By Oliver Willis
Daily Kos Staff
Monday, December 30, 2024
at 12:15:05p MST
REPUBLISHED BY:
Blue Country Gazette Blog
Rim Country Gazette Blog
By Oliver Willis Daily Kos Staff Billionaire Trump backer Elon Musk appears to be trying to calm tension in the MAGA world just days after calling for a “war.”
The controversy kicked off
after conservative activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer
criticized Donald Trump’s decision to name Sriram Krishnan AI adviser in
his upcoming administration.
Loomer drew attention to a post of Krishnan’s calling for an
increase in H1-B visas, which allows immigrant workers to come to the
United States for work. The tech industry has been a big advocate of
such visas, while many within the MAGA coalition have spent years
opposing immigration programs.
Musk, who spent at least $250 million
to help elect Trump—and apparently didn’t notice the years and years
Trump supporters spent cheering for immigration restrictions—struck
back. He characterized those with an opposing point of view as having an “upside-down and backwards” understanding of the issue.
The multibillionaire continued to escalate his rhetoric. Responding to a post that called the anti-immigrant faction “retarded,” Musk replied, “That pretty much sums it up. This was eye-opening.”
But he didn’t stop there.
Musk—who is worth more than $429 billion and spends untold hours every day on social media—jumped into the replies of another person disagreeing with him.
“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,”
he wrote.
He also wrote that “those contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas, had fun ribbing the division within the MAGA world.
“I won’t have enough tea to sip nor popcorn to eat over the
next 4 years! I’ve done countless interviews explaining that we need
immigrants and that they contribute to our economy! Businesses blow us
up about needing workers. And what do ya know?! MAGA got played,” she
wrote.
After days of controversy, Trump finally weighed in on the issue, siding with financial backer Musk.
“I have many H-1B visas on my properties,” Trump said. “I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”
Like many of Trump’s claims, this is a lie. Trump has long opposed H-1B visas. During his first term, he tried to push policies and regulations that would limit the number of visas awarded.
Musk later deleted the tweet agreeing with the “retarded” comment and issued a request for more positivity on X.
“Please post a bit more positive, beautiful or informative content on this platform,” he wrote.
He followed up the edict with a series of posts unrelated to
the visa controversy, including praise for tech-related ideas that he
has endorsed.
The firestorm has exposed early cracks in Trump coalition’s,
with Trump himself betraying his anti-immigrant base in favor of the
more recent MAGA convert Musk.
But the anti-immigrant sentiment has been so central to the
MAGA identity over the past decade that it’s unlikely that Musk’s
request for “beautiful” posts will come to fruition.
Elon gets a taste of MAGA and reality sets in.