"Dire shortage": Elon Musk sparks MAGA backlash after calling for more immigrant workers

[Mr. Sparkle]

The Tesla CEO argues the U.S. needs to court top talent after financing the loudest anti-immigration run in decades

Billionaire Tesla and X owner Elon Musk, President-elect Donald Trump's chief financier, on Wednesday sparked MAGA backlash after defending visas for foreign tech workers. South African-born Elon Musk was once an immigrant to the U.S., illegally overstaying his visa to build a future here. He employs hundreds of foreign-born engineers at his Tesla and SpaceX companies and says they fill a shortage of American-born workers.

Musk called a shortage of “excellent engineering talent” a “fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley” in a Wednesday tweet, arguing that immigrant labor is an essential ingredient in American innovation and warning of a "dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in America."

“If you force the world’s best talent to play for the other side, America will LOSE. End of story,” Musk replied to critics. But his plea for more immigrant talent has triggered some of Trump's right-wing supporters.

more ... https://www.salon.com/2024/12/26/dire-shortage-elon-musk-sparks-maga-backlash-after-calling-for-more-workers/

[Kid Berwyn]

1. Scab.

The problem is Musk doesn’t want to pay for “excellent engineering talent.”

[allegorical oracle]

17. Musk didn't build his successful products, they required talented engineers. He may be the one

suffering the engineering shortage because they probably leave after dealing with him for a few months. He would make an insufferable boss.

[Lovie777]

2. Flip flop...............

MAGAs total chaos and destruction, but the rich ones will try and acquire all the wealth tho.

[Hotler]

3. He wants engineers, just not American engineers.

Fucking Nazi.

[JI7]

4. They could have had Tim Walz

but I guess if it meant a black women being President that wanted to improve health care for black women then that was just too elitist for them.

Everything that is happening now is what they voted for.

[getagrip_already]

5. There is no real shortage, and ai will create a surplus

What he wants is cheap skilled labor, that can be mistreated and sent out of the country if they refuse to work in sweat shop conditions for really small money.

Twitter taught him that american citizens will quit if you abuse them, especially skilled workers in high demand.

But visa workers will stay, even when told to work 16 hour days, 6 or 7 days a week, because they will be deported if fired.

Thats what he wants. In america.

[Zorro]

6. A MAGA 'Civil War' on X between Musk and the far right over H-1B visas

Far-right activists clashed online with billionaire Elon Musk and other supporters of President-elect Donald Trump over the need for a skilled-worker immigration program that has long been a lifeblood for Silicon Valley — signifying a potential rift between Trump’s core nationalist base and technology executives who have come to support him.

The fight that spilled into public view over the holiday week could preview a wedge within Trump’s coalition over how to execute immigration policy, an issue that animated Trump’s White House campaign.

The controversy spread across X after far-right activist Laura Loomer on Monday criticized Trump’s choice to name Sriram Krishnan, a technology entrepreneur and investor who was born in India, as his senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence. She pointed to Krishnan’s previous support for removing some caps on green cards and easing the ability of skilled foreign workers to come to the United States. The policy is “in direct opposition” to Trump’s agenda, Loomer wrote.

The critique sparked a broader debate about immigration in the tech industry, which relies heavily on a program that allows foreigners with technical skills to work in the United States temporarily under H-1B nonimmigrant status. It ran headlong into tension with some of Trump’s closest advisers, notably Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk; David Sacks who will be the president-elect’s AI and crypto czar; and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-lead a commission to cut government spending.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/27/h-1b-visas-elon-musk-trump-immigration/

[2naSalit]

7. Wouldn't it be nice...

If people would stop listening to him?

[onecaliberal]

8. Deport musk. There aren't enough criminals in his mind.

[keithbvadu2]

9. VP Trump was actually ahead of President Musk on this issue.

VP Trump was actually ahead of President Musk on this issue.

Remember:::: whatever bad things Donald says about violent "illegals"/undoc immigrants, he would rather import and hire them than pay Americans.

He only quit hiring them when it became politically inconvenient.

[rickford66]

10. Water seeks it's own level.

So will the worst of Trump's agenda, but how low and how long ? Even a train wreck comes to an end. Pass the popcorn and rum and coke in my case.

[uponit7771]

11. EXACTLY !!! WSJ - "IT Unemployment Hits 6% Amid Overall U.S. Jobs Growth"

[comradebillyboy]

12. There's a dire shortage of Americans willing to work

the 80 hrs a week that Musk expects from his slaves. Vivek just wants America to become India and adopt his caste system.

[Hugin]

13. Yet, he wants to fire over a million skilled Federal workers.

Who are ALL American citizens. About 30% of which are also veterans.

[uponit7771]

14. President Musk is going to cause MAGA civil war worse

[RussBLib]

15. Kick out the manual laborers

...the migrants who do the sweaty jobs lazy Americans don't want. Right, get rid of these under-educated manual laborers and replace them with foreign, highly-educated foreign tech workers, who will NOT be working in the fields.

Bizarre and stupid. We have our own faltering educational system to blame for this.

https://russblib.blogspot.com/?m=1

[dickthegrouch]

16. 6% unemployment among IT workers is a dire shortage?

If they’d stop laying us off at every opportunity, they’d have a loyal, knowledgeable, trustworthy base of employees who weren’t constantly looking for their next job as a hedge against being layed off.

(While I’m now retired, I had never voluntarily quit from any job, including the transition to retirement being due to yet another (IT) layoff).