The honeymoon between the traditional Trump base and new Big Tech members of President-elect Donald Trump’s coalition experienced its first major rift this week when a debate exploded, largely over X, regarding the H-1B visa program. The program, which employs hundreds of thousands of foreign workers every year, mostly from India, allows companies to employ foreign workers for specialty fields.

Musk and Ramaswamy both voiced their favor for the system, with Ramaswamy issuing a statement that incensed many within the Republican Party.

In a lengthy X post, Ramaswamy said American culture has “venerated mediocrity over excellence,” stating that it “celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian.”

“More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of ‘Friends.’ More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers,” he wrote. “More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less ‘chillin.’ More extracurriculars, less ‘hanging out at the mall.’”

The result of his statement was a political firestorm, with many in Trump’s base finding his comments about American culture insulting and incorrect.

“Turns out the ‘waste’ that DOGE wanted to cut from America was Americans,” conservative commentator Auron MacIntyre replied.

He further disagreed with the premise of Ramaswamy’s argument, disputing his characterization of American culture and warning that a purely academic-focused society would amount to “social suicide,” citing South Korea’s plummeting birthrate.

Republican 2024 primary rival Nikki Haley, who clashed with Ramaswamy on the debate stage repeatedly, objected to his statement.

“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers,” Haley said.

Critics included those who had been promoted by Musk in the past, such as conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair.

“This is not the Vivek I advocated for last year. Last year, you were an advocate against H1B, would respond to criticism with lightning speed (+ real time sincerity, not old clips), and engaged in good faith debate,” she said in a response to Ramaswamy, referring to his remarks on the campaign trail that he would “gut” the H-1B program. “Whoever is in your ear now is going to lose you everything you’ve gained. I genuinely am rooting for you, Vivek. But I believe you are receiving detrimental advice.”

Trump ally Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s former running mate, described Ramaswamy’s characterization of American culture as “ridiculous and insulting,” without referencing him directly, and described the H-1B visa program as indentured servitude.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter had similar remarks.

“American workers can leave a company. Imported H1B workers can’t. Tech wants indentured servants, not ‘high-skilled’ workers,” she said.

Ramaswamy appeared keen to move on from the debate on Friday, saying, “Alright, back to real work today,” with a smiley face emoji attached.

Musk added fuel to the fire when he voiced agreement with a post that called Americans “retarded.” Some users speculated that the rhetoric would tarnish Musk’s image among Trump’s base.

“Ah yes calling us all retarded. Great job Elon. Trump isn’t even inaugurated and the base hates you,” one user replied to Musk, garnering twice the number of likes.

A follow-up post from Musk saying that his “tolerance for subtards is limited” drew similarly negative reactions.

Elsewhere, he attempted to clarify his position as only supporting the highest-skilled workers.

“Maybe this is a helpful clarification: I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1% of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning,” Musk said. “This is like bringing in the Jokic’s or Wemby’s of the world to help your whole team (which is mostly Americans!) win the NBA. Thinking of America as a pro sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning is the right mental construct.”

Critics disputed this characterization of the program. Others pointed out that SpaceX, one of Musk’s most successful companies, has banned the hiring of non-Americans.

In the middle of the debate, Musk introduced an algorithm update that would deprioritize accounts that had been blocked by verified users. This led to accusations of censorship from the Right, particularly after several major critics of Musk’s recent statements reported their verified status being suddenly removed.

Trump partially ran on overturning the H-1B visa program in 2016, saying it was made for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at low pay.”

Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance haven’t weighed in on the debate.

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The program has come under criticism from outside of Trump’s sphere as well. Researchers have consistently found no domestic shortage of STEM workers, even finding the opposite.

Supporters of the program argue that H-1B workers complement domestic workers and are needed to fill certain skill gaps.