Steve Bannon slams Elon Musk over support of H1B visa program
The internal civil war within the MAGA supporter community and conservatives in general over H1B visas has seemingly reached a fever pitch, and billionaire Elon Musk is smack dab in the middle of it.
According to the Daily Mail, after defending the program -- as a person who runs companies that heavily utilize H1B visas for highly-skilled foreign workers, Musk kickstarted an intense debate that has former Trump adviser Steve Bannon bashing Musk over the issue.
Between Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy defending the program over the weekend, anti-H1B MAGA proponent Laura Loomer slammed the two tech entrepreneurs, and pretty soon people within MAGA circles began taking sides.
Loomer accused them of undermining Trump's agenda -- that is until Trump came out later the same evening and also defended the use of H1B visas.
What's going on?
During his recent "War Room Pandemic" podcast, Bannon held nothing back as he took a shot at Musk and other Silicon Valley leaders regarding the program, implying that its too widely abused and hurts middle-class Americans.
"No, no. This is central to how they gutted the middle class in this country. And we haven't fought these battles for years and years and years to allow American citizens of every race eth religion be gutted by the sociopathic overlords in Silicon Valley," Bannon said.
Bannon's take on the program is that he believes it shouldn't exist at all, while others make the argument that it's very much needed in order to fulfill demand for high-tech American jobs that there simply aren't enough skilled Americans to fill.
Bannon slammed Musk and Ramaswamy over their admissions that the program needs to be "reformed."
"No there's no reformation. No reform. We want it gone. We demand that it's gone. We're going to want to fight for this," Bannon said.
He added, "And not just gone. I've got another alternative. We want reparations for the tech workers that you stole their lives. You stole their lives!"
Trump throws a wrench in the gears
While MAGA people like Bannon and Loomer were hitting Musk and Ramaswamy hard over the issue, Trump weighed in Saturday night with his support for keeping H1B visas in place.
"I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them," Trump told the New York Post.
The statement caused mass chaos within the MAGA community, sparking a mountain of debates across social media.
Only time will tell if there's ever a consensus on keeping, reforming or completely gutting the program, but it needs to happen fast.