(The Hill) — Tech billionaire Elon Musk labeled a section of President-elect Trump supporters as “contemptible fools” as the online debate around visas for highly skilled workers on the right intensifies.
A Trump world civil war has been brewing this week as Musk, and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) partner Vivek Ramaswamy have found themselves on the opposite end of the legal immigration debate with the anti-immigration contingent of the MAGA base.
On Friday, right-leaning “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams chimed in on the debate, which has largely taken place on the social media platform X, arguing that “MAGA is taking a page from Democrats on how to lose elections while feeling good about themselves.”
Musk, who has defended foreign-born engineers, agreed with Adams and said “those contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem.”
The tech mogul, who dropped at least $250 million backing Trump’s second White House run, then clarified that “the ‘contemptible fools’ I’m referring to are 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.”
Ramaswamy ignited the firestorm Thursday when he, in part, argued that the lack of U.S.-born engineers in the job market was due to American culture that “has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.” Musk, who has gotten closer to Trump over the course of this year, defended Ramaswamy.
Then, far-right provocateur Laura Loomer chimed in, criticizing President-elect Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as White House policy adviser on artificial intelligence. Loomer went after Krishnan for his November post where he proposed immigration changes: “Anything to remove country caps for green cards / unlock skilled immigration would be huge.”
The debate then shifted focus to the H-1B visa program, which is an employer-sponsored visa created for high-skilled professionals that has allowed tech companies to employ foreigners in tech and computer-related positions. The portion of the MAGA base argued the system undercuts opportunities for American workers.
Loomer, who has accused Musk of censoring her post on X over her immigration remarks, fired back at the Tesla owner and said he was not living up to his ideal of being a “free speech absolutist” in regards to his “contemptible fool” comments.
“@elonmusk has been a Republican for 5 minutes and now he wants to decide who gets to be a Republican,” she wrote Friday on X. “Elon, you said you were a free speech absolutist. If you are, let’s please let all ideas flourish and we will let the best ideas win. Let’s embrace free speech absolutism.”
