Confronting the Ultra-Arrogant Trump, By Charles Taylor (Florida)
Trump has been confronted by a reporter who questioned why Trump has changed his mind and has now publicly backed the H-1B visas program, when before he stated that it had defects, and he tried to change some of these before leaving office. In reply Trump denied that he had changed his position, merely giving the motherhood statement that the country needs competent people. The reporter hung in there, but Trump ignored him. Naturally, Trump did not say that Elon Musk, his Big Tech backer, benefits from the program, and as he put millions to get me back in office, I need to bow to him.
The magic of the Trump re-election seems to have fast disappeared, which is a good thing. Let the MAGA protests begin! This time keep Trump in line!
"Donald Trump has denied he has changed his position on H-1B visas after the subject fractured the MAGAverse.
The President-elect spoke to reporters on the red carpet as he and first lady Melania Trump arrived at his annual New Year's Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago.
The incoming commander-in-chief was asked why he changed his mind and publicly backed the H-1B visa program.
'I didn't change my mind,' Trump pushed back. 'I've always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country.'
He added: 'We need competent people, we need smart people coming into our country and we need a lot of people coming in, we're going to have jobs like we've never had before.'
'But sir, you changed your position!' the journalist responded.
Trump ignored the reporter, choosing to answer a question about whether he would attend President Jimmy Carter's funeral instead.
The president-elect said he would be there.
The tussle over H-1B visas pit Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – selected to run the newly created Department of Government Efficiency – against traditional MAGA mainstays like Steve Bannon.
As tech industry insiders, Musk and Ramaswamy were pro the visas that bring in high-skilled laborers, while Bannon and the MAGA right argued those jobs should go to Americans first.
Trump ended up siding with Musk and even posted publicly to Truth Social about his desire to see the X owner at the New Year's shindig.
'Where are you? When are you coming to the 'Center of the Universe,' Mar-a-Lago,' Trump wrote. 'We miss you and x! New Year's Eve is going to be AMAZING!!!'
Elon indeed came to the fete, walking the red carpet with son X on his shoulders.
He was later spotted standing next to the incoming president and first lady in Mar-a-Lago's grand ballroom watching Lara Trump, the president-elect's daughter-in-law who served as a Republican National Committee co-chair, sing Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down.'
Bannon was seemingly not at the party, as the former Trump White House chief strategist didn't walk the red carpet.
During the row Bannon said of Musk: 'We're going to rip your face off.'
Bannon also called Musk a 'toddler' after the tech billionaire said of those against the program: 'Take a big step back and F*** YOURSELF in the face.'
In the past, Trump has said negative things about the H-1B visa program but also conceded that he uses those visas to hire some of his own workforce.
During a 2016 primary debate Trump called the visas 'very bad' and 'unfair' to American workers – the point Bannon, Laura Loomer and others on the MAGA right made in their spat with Musk and Ramaswamy.
'First of all, I think and I know the H-1B very well. And it's something that I frankly use and I shouldn't be allowed to use it. We shouldn't have it,' Trump said at the time.
'Second of all, I think it's very important to say, well, I'm a businessman and I have to do what I have to do,' he added.
Once taking office Trump's 'Buy American and Hire American' executive order directed Cabinet officers to suggest reforms to the H-1B program to do more to protect American jobs.
In October 2020, a month before the 2020 presidential election, the Trump White House announced a plan to severely curb H-1B visas going forward.
Trump lost the election a month later and was replaced by President Joe Biden that January."
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