Billionaire Trump donor Elon Musk and Trump’s travel partner and conservative activist Laura Loomer, who has embraced and promoted a host of racist notions, are in a public feud about immigration. The argument has received support on both sides, exposing another early division in the MAGA coalition.
The dispute began after Loomer complained on X about Donald Trump’s decision to name Sriram Krishnan adviser of AI in his upcoming administration. Loomer quoted a post in which Krishnan advocated for removing green card per-country caps for skilled immigrants.
“It’s alarming to see the number of career leftists who are now being appointed to serve in Trump’s admin when they share views that are in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda,” she said.
Loomer, who has described herself as an “Islamophobe” who supports “pro-white nationalism,” went on to describe Krishnan and others like him as advocates for foreign students coming to the United States to “take jobs that should be given to American STEM students.”
Later, Musk argued in favor of providing more visas to tech workers while responding to an X user expressing sympathy with Loomer’s position.
“The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” he said.
Responding to another X user calling for a more restrictive visa policy, Musk said, “Your understanding of the situation is upside-down and backwards,” arguing that there is a “dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in America.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump named co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency along with Musk, chimed in to argue that “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 said.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who failed in her bid for the Republican presidential nomination, sided with Loomer.
“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,” she wrote on X.
Tech investor David Sacks, who Trump recently named “AI and crypto czar,” criticized Loomer’s argument and alleged that she’s involved in a “division grift.”
After Loomer’s X account was reportedly suspended and her ability to recruit subscribers limited, she alleged that Musk made the changes in retaliation to her criticisms of Krishnan and Trump backers in the tech industry who support bringing in more immigrant workers.
“Full censorship of my account simply because I called out H1B visas. This is anti-American behavior by tech oligarchs. What happened to free speech?” she lamented.
The feud has exposed a schism between two of the key groups of the Trump constituency: anti-immigrant racists and billionaire tech executives who seek to cut spending on social good while pushing tax cuts for the wealthy.
Trump’s new administration is already in turmoil that’s generating national coverage—and he hasn’t even been sworn in yet.
Campaign Action