US Nationalists versus Musk and the 'Tech Bros': What If the American Right Implodes?

The following is a translation of an essay published on Éléments on December 31st, 2024, written by Stéphane Brizzi. The essay discusses a growing rift within the American right, with white nationalists clashing with "tech bros" like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy over issues like H1-B visas and immigration policy, highlighting tensions between economic liberalism and nationalism.

Translated by Alexander Raynor

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In the United States, an open war is dividing the right at the dawn of the presidential inauguration: on one side, the nationalists of deep America; on the other, the 'tech bros' led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. At the heart of the discord are the H1-B visas, a symbol of borderless capitalism, and the controversial nomination of an Indian-American entrepreneur to the White House. This dispute, which crystallizes tensions over immigration and identity, reveals a deep ideological rift within the conservative camp, threatening an alliance that had nonetheless led Trump to victory.

It’s the POLITICAL EVENT of the end of the year in the United States. While we are celebrating Christmas, on the other side of the Atlantic, a massive political battle is taking place. On one side: Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and the "tech bros"; on the other: American nationalists: America First, Laura Loomer, and hundreds of thousands of X accounts. The two sides are clashing on social media. The alliance that brought Trump to the White House is at risk of collapsing before the 47th elected president is even officially inaugurated in less than a month.

The H1-B Visa Sparks the Powder Keg

The dispute erupted on December 25 over the issue of H1-B visas, which allow large U.S. companies to bring in thousands of foreign workers. However, the crisis dates back to early December, when warning signs suggested that Trump’s promised "biggest deportation of immigrants in history" might be faltering. For the MAGA camp, fired up by a year of campaigning, this is a betrayal. On December 22, a thunderbolt struck: Indian-American entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan was appointed White House advisor on artificial intelligence. Arriving in the 2000s with an H1-B visa, Krishnan is known for supporting the mass influx of Indian immigrants into key jobs in Silicon Valley. This topic is highly sensitive within the American right.

For Emmanuel Todd, it’s a symptom of America’s decline. The crisis in the training of engineers, compared to its Russian and Chinese rivals, is only offset by the immigration of Indians and Asians. For white nationalists, whose numbers have exploded in the last three years and whose influence now extends beyond social media, Krishnan’s appointment is a scandalous provocation.

Some bloggers claim that between 2021 and 2024, only 6% of new jobs in these high-tech sectors were given to white men. This statistic, published in 2023 but resurfacing this week, is adding fuel to the fire. The average American is thus doubly replaced. It is explained to him that Latino immigrants are doing the work he no longer wants to do, and that now, he is also not qualified enough for the best-paying jobs.

On December 23, Laura Loomer, who was an advisor to Trump, stirs the pot by stating that tech jobs should be reserved for Americans with degrees in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). When told that America has always brought in geniuses from around the world, she responds on December 24: "Our country was built by white Europeans, not by third-world invaders from India."

Elon Musk then enters the debate – alongside his now-partner of Indian descent, Ramaswamy – defending Krishnan’s appointment. For Musk, H1-B visas are a source of wealth for the United States, as they bring in "the top 0.1% of talent from around the world." And while admitting that this system causes problems (Trump wanted to eliminate it in 2016), he declares that the number of legal immigrants coming to the U.S. through this program should be doubled. For the MAGA camp, this is unbearable. For them, Trump was elected on a platform of defending American identity and massive expulsion of illegal immigrants. His vice president, Vance, has also called for stopping much of legal immigration. For Steve Bannon, this visa issue is a "scam by the Silicon Valley oligarchs to take jobs away from American citizens."

On December 26, in the middle of the debate, Ramaswamy posted a tweet that has been viewed 108 million times and sparked hundreds of thousands of responses. In his post, he explains to American nationalists why H1-B visas are important. "Our American culture has worshiped mediocrity at the expense of excellence for far too long." He criticizes the 1990s, American culture of balls and TV shows, and highlights Asian education that drives children to success. This tweet, which was supposed to end the debate and calm minds, will be the cause of the Civil War.

White Nationalism Against Borderless Capitalism

Ramaswamy’s tweet criticizing American culture will spark a wave of hatred against "this Indian immigrant," the moralizer, and against the economic system that has shifted America from 90% white in 1965 to 55% in 2024 in the name of perpetual growth. Some recall that "the Great America of the 1920s-1965, which defeated Japan and sent a man to the Moon, didn’t need the Ramaswamys." Tweets flood in, with American nationalists rediscovering Lothrop Stoddard and his critique of Asian economic immigration in the 1920s. Some even reference the Gracchi and the question of slaves and landowners! An investigation into the H1-B visas is conducted, and the conclusion is clear: since 1990, American capitalists have been bringing in immigrants to the tech industry to pay them less and to have total control over them.

An important element of this battle is that the nationalist camp is now no longer just made up of pseudonymous militants on the internet but also includes university professors, entrepreneurs, and "ordinary" Americans. Matt Gaetz, one of the leaders of America First and a former congressman, declares that "we welcomed the tech bros when they rushed to us (MAGA) to avoid having their second-grade teacher choose their child’s gender and to escape the economic decline under Biden/Harris. But we didn’t ask them to develop an immigration policy."

Even Nikki Haley, Trump’s rival in the primaries and a neoconservative, tweets her criticism of Ramaswamy, stating that she wants to keep jobs for Americans! Is this a true conversion to nationalism or just a political tactic? Even though her tweet is purely demagogic, the gesture is telling: taking the nationalist side now earns points.

Musk and Ramaswamy use the same argument: we need to bring in skilled immigrants to continue "winning." The nationalists respond: "We don’t want to win, we want to remain American," or "My son won’t work 80 hours a week." We are witnessing a paradigm shift within the American right. For us, the French, the American right has always been the one that prioritized the wallet. It’s the famous story of the American businessman meeting a small Mexican fisherman.

Tucker Carlson was one of the first American patriots, in 2016, to declare on Fox News that Bernie Sanders' economic program had good ideas and that American identity was more important than GDP. Labeled a fascist by cosmopolitan Democrats at the time, and a socialist by the Republican bourgeoisie, his opinion nevertheless spread to much of the MAGA camp.

Elon Musk responds, citing Tesla, Paperclip, and Wernher von Braun. But for many, he confirms the MAGA thesis: it was European whites, with the same cultural foundation as the Americans already established, whether they were Italian, Irish, English, or German.

The Search for a Compromise

The interest in this dispute is no longer just a critique of immigration. It points to the borderless liberal economic system that, in the U.S. as in Europe, crushes people, replaces them in the name of GDP and profits. Musk loses his footing and becomes angry, calling these white nationalists "ungrateful," even though their presence on X only exists because the billionaire bought the platform in October 2022. Under fire from all sides, he even uses the term "racist," an insult that once held power but seems to have lost its effectiveness since 2020-2021. Has fear changed sides?

Hardline MAGA supporters remind Musk of his origins, retorting that the Boer South Africa collapsed because of people like him, who in the 1970s preferred the butter and the money for the butter, as Bernard Lugan reminded us: political and economic domination of black populations rather than true separation that would force the white bourgeois to hire a housekeeper and a Boer gardener, even if it meant paying them more.

Charlie Kirk, a key figure in Trump’s victory, on December 28, while criticizing Ramaswamy's tweet, calls for a truce between the nationalists and Musk. He emphasizes that Musk, by purchasing Twitter, greatly contributed to the November victory, the fight against wokism, and the battle against anti-white racism.

The South African billionaire, for his part, tries to ease tensions, explaining on December 28 on X that he is against an increase in legal immigration and that the visas concern only 15,000 people. Trump’s son and vice president, close to the nationalists, have not yet commented. As for President Trump, reports suggest that he privately expressed support for the visa system but in a reformed version. The goal is to maintain the alliance between the "tech bros" and the nationalists. At least, that’s not the case for Laura Loomer, who declares: "I can’t wait for the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech."

To be continued...