The larger problem with Elon Musk's pro-immigration and Trump's moody immigration support
That time I was mistaken as Nigerian during a job interview
It’s not even January, and the Republican party is falling apart. While I was dreading January 20, I’m now watching them unravel in ways I hadn’t quite imagined, primarily because I never expected J.D. Vance to disappear like Waldo while a South African became our U.S. president. The irony in Donald Trump being the right-hand man of a guy from Pretoria while repeatedly insisting a “Kenyan” two-time president had no business being in the White House is not lost on me. If anything, it further explains his chaotic need to back and then oppose his own political campaign.
For those who may have missed recent news, Trump sided with Twitter-turned-X founder Elon Musk in regard to visas for high-tech workers.
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“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk wrote to one critic on X. “I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
And he’s not kidding about going to war over this. Although Trump’s primary base (MAGA) is very much anti-immigrant and pro-white-Americans, Musk described Trump’s most outspoken supporters as “hateful unrepentant racists” and “contemptible fools.”
Musk doubled down by stating MAGA will “absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed.” I raised an eyebrow, wondering if Musk realizes MAGA is the reason Trump won. Sure, Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t have ironclad support from her entire Democratic base and some strayed, but Musk being willing to go against a group that were literally climbing buildings and stairs like they were in an ant farm on January 6, 2021 is — something I’ll never forget.
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Recommended Read: “Racism, sexism, idiocy wins with Trump ~ But I still thank Vice President Kamala Harris for trying to save America”
While I understand that Musk wants to support H-1B visas, the unspoken argument is that Musk wants a certain type of immigrant to be permitted and seems dismissive of those who don’t have specialized training. The other group are often hard-working people from other countries who fled their homes for safety and financial reasons, not just because the U.S. seemed like a cool place to go.
And as much as my opinions have been mixed when I started seeing how homelessness was affected by immigration in Chicago, a job interview with a laundromat owner who thought I was Nigerian made me come face-to-face with how immigrants are ridiculed and manipulated while trying to work in the U.S. unless they have specialized training.