The Great Big Tech Versus MAGA War, By Charles Taylor (Florida)

Prior to the New Year there was a bitter, heated debate between Trump's billionaire DOGE allies, Musk and Ramaswamy, who were and are, championing the H-1B visa program, and mainstream nationalist MAGA persons. The H-1B program benefits Big Business through supplying cheaper labour; workers are often paid 10 percent, or even 47 percent, less than American counter-parts: R. Hira and D. Costa, "New Evidence of Widespread Wage Theft in the H-1B Visa Program," December 9, 2021, https://www.epi.org/publication/new-evidence-widespread-wage-theft-in-the-h-1b-program. That study documented that there was an underpaying of H-1B workers as much as 47 percent. The workers, mainly from India, are only too willing to do the work, be it truck driving or coding. In Australia PM Albo has worked a similar scam with imported Indian workers.

Nicole Shanahan, Robert Kennedy Jr's running mate, opposed the program, seeing it as supplying "indentured servants" for Big Tech, and she is from Big Tech. Musk was abusive of people wanting to end H-1B, and took the libtard line, that those wanting to preserve American jobs were "racists," who must be thrown out of the Republican Party, "root and branch." Musk was strongly criticised by various MAGA people, such as Laura Loomer and those not MAGA, such as comedian Sam Hyde, both arguing that Musk was engaged in a replacement of Americans. This was readily seen by Ramaswamy writing that America has "venerated mediocrity over excellence," and that American workers are too mediocre. Previously he has said: "[The] H-1B system is badly broken and should be replaced with one that focuses on selecting the very best of the best." Nikki Haley, a bitter opponent of Ramaswamy said in counter, "we should be investing and prioritising in Americans, and not foreign workers." Thankfully Ramaswamy did not become president.

Trump himself was once critical of the H-1B program and visa abuse, and in 2020 signed an executive order curbing some of the excesses of the H-1B program. But Trump has supported his billionaire backer, no doubt now master, Musk, saying that the H-1B program is "great," and he has such workers on his properties himself:

https://nypost.com/2024/12/28/us-news/donald-trump-backs-h-1b-visa-program-supported-by-elon-musk/.

This was a debate which had to happen, as Trump indicated during the election, that he supported large scale legal immigration. He was not called out on this as the stakes were too high, with Harris needing to be defeated. But now it is time for mass protests against Trump's immigration madness. Being an egomaniac, he will take poorly to being booed at the inauguration. I have been suspicious of Trump since failure to build the wall, or do much beyond giving the 1 percenters tax breaks in his first term. Trump is responsible for Operation Warp speed, that gave us the horrors of the vax injuries, and lockdowns, but he does not cop his fair share of the blame. In fact, he sees the Covid vax as one of his greatest achievements. All I can say is that it is better than Kamala, and maybe some real champions may arise, one not in hock to a 1 percenter.