Chuck Darwin<p>Who Got Duped? <br>-- MAGA Activists Worry That Nativism And Tech Oligarchy May Not Go Hand In Hand</p><p>Over the past few days, a fight has erupted within the MAGA right over legal immigration, specifically about ➡️whether the country should admit more high-skilled immigrants. <br>On the one side, you have opportunistic tech oligarchs like Elon <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Musk</span></a> and David <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sacks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sacks</span></a>. <br>These are incredibly wealthy figures who are open about using their newfound influence in government to serve both their ideological and their private business interests. <br>On the other are figures like Laura <a href="https://c.im/tags/Loomer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Loomer</span></a>, Nick <a href="https://c.im/tags/Fuentes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Fuentes</span></a>, and other nativist <br>(and often openly racist) online personalities who had been vocal Trump supporters long before the Silicon Valley right joined the coalition.</p><p>The two sides began to argue on Sunday, after Donald Trump appointed <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sriram" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sriram</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Krishan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Krishan</span></a>, <br>a partner at Andreesen Horowitz, <br> 👉White House policy adviser on Artificial Intelligence <br>to work with Sacks, the Trump administration’s <a href="https://c.im/tags/crypto" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>crypto</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AI</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/czar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>czar</span></a>.<br>This may seem like a relatively minor White House appointment. <br>However, Krishan has also been a proponent of 💥removing country caps on green cards and H1-B visas, <br>-- which allow American companies to hire foreign workers for certain specializations.</p><p>To the far-right, nativist influencers that have from the start glommed onto Trumpian scapegoating of immigrants, <br>Krishan’s position crossed a line. </p><p> Loomer, an anti-immigrant provocateur who traveled with Trump during his campaign, called it <br>“deeply disturbing.” </p><p>Sacks replied, perhaps not fully understanding his audience, <br>by noting that Indian immigrants face an 11-year wait for green cards.</p><p>This was catnip for Loomer, <br>who replied by suggesting that Sacks was in on a new version of the great replacement theory, <br>and spent the next several days making vile statements about immigrants, <br>accusing those who disagree with her on H1-B visas of hating Americans, <br>and demanding that senior Trump officials denounce their Silicon Valley allies. </p><p>Sacks, whose recent political positions have included strident opposition to American support for Ukraine, denounced the “crude” attacks.</p><p>Soon, other Trump-involved tech oligarchs, <br>like Elon <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Musk</span></a> and Vivek <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ramaswamy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ramaswamy</span></a>, jumped into the fray. </p><p>Musk wrote that “the number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low. <br>Think of this like a pro sports team: <br>if you want your TEAM to win the championship, <br>you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. <br>That enables the whole TEAM to win.”</p><p>Ramaswamy swooped in on Thursday to explain his view that American companies were forced to hire foreign skilled labor due to a deficit in homegrown American culture itself.</p><p>“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, <br>or the jock over the valedictorian, <br>will not produce the best engineers,” Ramaswamy wrote, <br>adding later: <br>“More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers.”</p><p>As you might imagine, MAGA nativists of various stripes regard this Silicon Valley defense of skilled immigration with a paranoid and often racist eye. </p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Fuentes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Fuentes</span></a>, the groyper leader, described Ramaswamy’s position as an attempt to get<br> “500 million indians to move here.” </p><p>Others reacted to Ramaswamy’s premise that there may be something wrong with America. </p><p>Jeremy <a href="https://c.im/tags/Carl" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Carl</span></a>, a senior fellow at the nativist Claremont Institute, <br>pushed back in a gentler fashion while still suggesting that Ramaswamy’s vision would “destroy the things that actually make America great.”</p><p>In a very obvious and over-the-top way, <br>this imbroglio illuminates a real divide among the most vocal members of Trump’s coalition: <br>-- tech oligarchs who want foreign labor for their businesses, <br>-- and nativists who take Trump’s rhetoric on immigration very seriously and who in many cases want to apply it to nonwhite immigrants.</p><p>But there’s another thing that’s taking place here on a deeper level. </p><p>Ramaswamy explicitly (and Musk implicitly) laid their supposed inability to find engineering talent at the feet of American culture. </p><p>Ramaswamy was very blunt about this, <br>calling for “fewer Saturday morning cartoons.” </p><p>Musk complained that the number of <br>“super talented” and “super motivated” engineers in the U.S. is “far too low.”</p><p>(1/2)<br><a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/who-got-duped-maga-activists-worry-that-nativism-and-tech-oligarchy-may-not-go-hand-in-hand" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">talkingpointsmemo.com/where-th</span><span class="invisible">ings-stand/who-got-duped-maga-activists-worry-that-nativism-and-tech-oligarchy-may-not-go-hand-in-hand</span></a></p>