Hark the Herald H-1b

The First MAGA Fight

If you were on Twitter last week, even briefly, you saw a feud brewing between different factions of the pro-Trump wings of the Republican Party. Unlike other GOP fights, it wasn’t between the traditional faction versus populists, but tech bros against the base of Trump’s voters and some very well-known MAGA influencers over H-1b visas.

From what I can tell, the argument begins over Trump’s appointment of Sriram Krishnan as an advisor to Trump’s crypto and artificial intelligence Czar David Sachs.

Now, just an important note- I do not know Mr. Krishnan or have any issue with him as an AI or crypto advisor. I have a lot of feelings about AI, but I know I’m not informed enough to make comprehensive arguments for or against whatever he wants to do, so I’m willing to wait and see what he says and does.

Yet AI has nothing to do with this Twitter fight. It’s about past Tweets in which Mr. Krishnan called for removing country caps on H-1b visas. This is an absolutely terrible idea, but not one that is terribly original. Senator Mike Lee made it his sole mission to abolish country caps for several years unsuccessfully. During that time, very few people outside dedicated immigration hawks ever really turned their ire on Senator Lee. It would basically mean that two countries, China and India, would make up almost the entirety of all visas offered by the United States for at least a decade, if not longer, just because of their vast population.

The fight was magnified when Elon Musk got involved, defending Krishnan and claiming he would fight to protect the H-1b program. Things only get intense when failed presidential candidate turned DOGE co-chairman Vivek Ramaswamy puts out several hundred-word tweets about American culture not rooting for nerds like Screech and Urkle back in the early 90s. It's a very bizarre set of tweets from a man who understands brands more than he does actual products.

Soon enough, basically every conservative pundit has weighed in, as well as some mainstream media figures presenting a clear battle line between the future of the GOP.

The fight will probably have few actual consequences, hopefully just torpedoing any future Vivek presidential campaign. Still, it tells us the nature of the Republican Party and where at least vocal voters and thought leaders online are on the subject.

Let’s start by discussing H-1bs and my opposition to the program as it’s currently being used and why lifting country caps is a horrible idea, and then discuss the ramifications for the Republican Party in general.