Elon Musk’s vow to “go to war” is causing a stir

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s promise to “go to war” to defend H-1B visas has raised eyebrows among some on social media.

Newsweek reached out to Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter, via email Saturday morning seeking comment from the tech mogul.

Why it matters

Musk’s comments on Friday evening on general.

Musk, a US citizen naturalized in South Africa who once held an H1-B visa, and his future co-head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, have lent their support to recruiting qualified people of foreign workers to the USA

Once Trump is in office, it could be difficult to appease both those in business who believe skilled legal migration boosts the U.S. economy and those of his supporters who believe it does so at the expense of American workers.

What you should know

On Friday evening, Steven Mackey, a politics-interested A smart engineer’s job is to optimize something that shouldn’t exist.

“Stop trying to optimize something that shouldn’t exist,” Mackey wrote in response to the video in which he pretended to be the voice of Musk: “Let’s optimize H-1B.”

The post had been viewed 1.5 million times by Saturday morning.

Musk responded to Mackey’s post on Friday: “The reason I am in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that have made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and F** *I’ll go to a war over this issue that you can’t imagine.

The tech tycoon’s post had now been viewed 5.8 million times as of Saturday morning.

Mackey quickly responded to Musk, writing in part: “I personally agree with H1B reform, and as I have said several times today, I am incredibly grateful to you and many others who are in the country because of H1B.”

This dispute over the H-1B visa program erupted after conservative activist Laura Loomer criticized Trump’s appointment of Indian-born entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as his senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence (AI). Loomer pointed to Krishnan’s past support for making it easier for skilled foreigners to work in the U.S., which Loomer said on X was “in direct contradiction” to the Trump agenda.

Meanwhile, Trump told the New York Post in a phone interview Saturday: “I always liked the (H-1B) visas, I was always in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them.”

He added: “I have many H-1B visas for my properties. I believed in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”

What people say

Loomer wrote on X on Friday evening: “It’s now escalating to ‘threats of war’. Wow. Shocking.”

Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch and frequent Trump criticwrote on X on Friday evening: “Holy s***” and shared a screenshot of Musk’s post.

In a follow-up post, he wrote: “Musk tells Trump supporters to go fuck themselves while Trump just delivered another set of Studio 54 hits in the MAL ballroom after a hard day of golf.”

Jon Cooper, a former campaign manager for former President Barack Obama from Long Island, New Yorkwrote down on Saturday morning

Political scientist Aleksandar Djokic wrote on Musk’s X Saturday morning: “That’s an ungrateful immigrant right there.”

Karen Piper, a scholar who focuses on globalizationwrote early Saturday morning on I wonder how we can get this message out to a larger audience.

What happens next

While Trump’s plans to crack down on illegal immigration have broad support among his base, the president-elect will have to walk a tightrope on legal immigration after his inauguration on January 20 if he wants to avoid alienating a powerful section of his supporters.

Trump suggested in an interview that international graduates of American universities should receive green cards All in Podcast in June.

“If you graduate or get your doctorate from a university, you should be able to stay in this country,” he said.

Update 12/28/24 3:11 PM ET: This article has been updated with Trump’s comment on H-1B visas.