Letters from an American - December 27, 2024

Episode Date: December 28, 2024

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December 27th, 2024. Civil war has broken out within the MAGA Republicans. On the one side are the traditional MAGAs who tend to be white, anti-immigrant, and less educated than the rest of the U.S. They believe that the modern government's protection of equal rights for women and minorities has ruined America, and they tend to want to isolate the U.S. from the rest of the world. They make up Trump's voting base. On the other side are the new MAGAs who appear to have taken control of the incoming Trump administration. Led by Elon Musk, who bankrolled Trump's campaign,

the new MAGA wing is made up of billionaires, especially tech entrepreneurs, many of whom are themselves immigrants. During the campaign, these two wings made common cause because they both want to destroy the current US government, especially as President Joe Biden has been using it to strengthen American democracy. Traditional MAGA wants to get rid of the government that protects equality and replace it with

one that enforces white male supremacy and Christianity. New MAGA, which some have started to call doggy after the Department of Government Efficiency run by Musk and pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy wants to get rid of the government that regulates business, especially technology, and protects American interests against competition from countries like China. Their shared commitment to the destruction of the current government is about the only overlap between these two factions. With the campaign over, traditional MAGA and doggie are ripping apart. Trump

sparked the fight when he announced on Sunday, December 22nd, that he would appoint Musk associate Sriram Krishnan, who was born in India, as a senior policy advisor on artificial intelligence. On Monday, MAGA activist Laura Loomer criticized Trump's choice of Krishnan. Loomer was in Trump's inner circle until three months ago when her anti-immigrant tirades made Trump campaign staff worry she would cost Trump votes

and forced her out of his public schedule. Loomer noted that Krishnan wants to remove the cap on green cards for workers from certain countries. Krishnan has also called for making it easier for skilled foreign workers to come to the US on H-1B temporary visas. These programs are important to the technology sector but critics say they enable companies to hire foreign workers at lower pay than US workers, that H-1B workers are trapped in their jobs, and that wage theft is rampant in the H-1B program.

Loomer said those jobs should be given to American STEM students. Then she got to the heart of the matter, complaining that MAGA is getting left out of the new administration. She noted that none of the tech executives who are meeting with Trump and getting appointed in his cabinet supported him in 2020 or during the 2024 primary. She continued, I feel like many of them are trying to get into Trump's administration to enrich themselves and get contracts at the Department of Defense.

This is not America First policy." When another tech entrepreneur and Trump appointee, David Sachs, defended Krishnan, Loomer made a series of racist posts, claiming among other things that, "...our country was built by white Europeans actually, not third world invaders from India. She said, it's not racist against Indians to want the original MAGA policies I voted for. I voted for a reduction in H1B visas, not an extension.

On Wednesday, December 25th, Christmas, a major holiday for MAGA supporters, Musk took a stand against Loomer and the MAGAs. He posted on X that the U.S. needs twice the number of engineers it has, and welcomed foreign engineers. The number of people who are super talented engineers and super motivated in the USA is far too low," he tweeted. Think of this like a pro sports team.

If you want your team to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole team to win. Loomer responded, is doggy real or is it a vanity project? Others complained about the tech bros hubris and arrogance with their flippant condescending and elitist responses to legitimate criticisms of the H1B1 program. Still others pointed out that there were big layoffs

in tech this year and asked why they weren't getting rehired if there was such a desperate need for workers. Musk posted, investing in Americans is actually hard, really hard. It costs money and time and effort to make a person productive. It's a short-term net loss. It's much easier to bring in skilled workers who might not do quite a good a job, but will work for a fraction of the cost and be happy just to be here."

Loomer responded, "'The elephant in the room is that Musk, who is not MAGA and never has been, is a total f***ing drag on the Trump transition. He's a stage five clinger who overstayed his welcome at Mar-a-Lago in an effort to become Trump's side piece and be the point man for all of his accomplices in Big Tech to slither into Mar-a-Lago. Musk called Lumera a troll and she responded that, telling the truth isn't trolling. You bought your way into MAGA five minutes ago. We all know you only donated your money so you could influence immigration policy and protect your buddy Xi Jinping.

Thursday, everything broke open. Ramaswamy, who was born in Ohio to parents who immigrated to America from India, posted on X an indictment of American culture that seemed a direct assault on MAGA Republicans who have been vocal about their disdain for education. Ramaswamy posted that tech companies hire foreign-born and first-generation engineers rather than native-born Americans because American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long. A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math Olympiad champ or the jock over the valedictorian will not produce the best engineers. He called for more math tutoring, fewer sleepovers, more weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday

morning cartoons, more books, less TV, more creating, less chillin'. More extracurriculars, less hanging out at the mall. If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve, he warned. 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 a** handed to us by China. He called for America to embrace a new golden era, but warned it was possible only if our culture fully wakes up. A culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy, excellence over mediocrity, nerdiness over conformity, hard work over laziness. That's the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood and just wishing

or legislating alternative hiring practices into existence. With that, the fat was in the fire. Maggot dragged Rameswamy, with even former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley retorting, There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and

prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers. Haley ran for president against Trump, but ultimately endorsed him. She is, herself, the child of Indian immigrants. Loomer also hit back against Musk, posting, is doggie a way to cut spending or redirect the spending toward the pet projects of tech bro billionaires?

It's looking like the latter, to be honest. She continued, hey, let's convince the peasants that we're saving the money as we enrich ourselves. Another right-wing poster wondered, how did Doggie go from let's cut wasteful government spending to here's why we need to import more immigrants almost overnight?

When Musk appeared to limit Loomer's ability to use X, she posted, I have always been America first and a die-hard supporter of President Trump, and I believe that promises made should be promises kept. Donald Trump promised to remove the H-1B visa program, and I support his policy. Now, as one of Trump's biggest supporters, I'm having my free speech silenced by a tech billionaire for simply questioning the tech oligarchy. Other right-wing accounts accused Musk of censoring them too,

and racist anti-immigrant sentiments flowed freely. On Friday, when cartoonist and right-wing commenter Scott Adams posted that MAGA was taking a page from Democrats on how to lose elections while feeling good about themselves, Musk agreed and added, and those contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem. Loomer commented that Musk is now referring to MAGA as contemptible fools. The Trump base is being replaced by big tech executives. So

sad to see this. She tagged Trump and added I feel so sad for MAGA. Meanwhile other MAGA supporters on X piled on Musk, complaining that he had not paid them as promised for their participation in his free speech petition during the campaign. By today, key Trump ally Steve Bannon, a central figure in MAGA, had taken to another right-wing social media platform to warn his supporters that Musk is showing his true colors and to demand

that the H-1B visa program be zeroed out. Another right-wing influencer, Jack Posobieck, tweeted, today was the day we found out who is getting rich by screwing over the American worker. Trump did not weigh in on the fight, but in what appeared to be intended as a private communication to Musk, wrote on his social media site, Where are you? When are you coming to the center of the universe? Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come tonight. We miss you and X.

New Year's Eve is going to be amazing. DJT. According to Erin Palish and Elena Trean of CNN, X here likely refers to Musk's son, whose name is spelled X space AE space A dash XII. Why does all this matter? Because while Trump's people keep insisting he won in a landslide and has a mandate that he will put in place on day one, his fragile coalition is splintering even before he takes office. Trump won less than 50% of the vote.

Despite their slim victory, the Republican Party was already in a civil war between MAGA and establishment Republicans who are fed up with the MAGA's who threatened to burn down the government and almost a century of international diplomacy. Just a week ago Senate Republicans were publicly complaining about the dysfunctional and fiasco in the house. Now, with Trump not even in office yet, the two factions of Trump's MAGA base, which indeed have opposing interests, are at war. ["Soundscape"]

Letters from an American was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss. ["This Is Home"]