- Elon Musk called some Trump supporters “contemptible fools” as debate raged among Republicans over H-1B immigration visas. It echoed Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remark from the 2016 election about Trump voters.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is digging in his heels in his defense of H-1B visas, saying some Trump supporters are “contemptible fools” who “must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem.”
His comment on X was a response to a post from Dilbert creator Scott Adams, who criticized MAGA loyalists for hurting the GOP’s election odds amid the visa debate.
Musk’s choice of words echoes comments made by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during a campaign fundraising event in September 2016.
“You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Clinton said at the time. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it.”
Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment was repeatedly used against her during the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. And in her 2017 book, What Happened, Clinton said this comment was a factor in her losing the election to Trump.
For what it’s worth, this is not the first time Musk has used colorful language in this debate with Trump supporters over H-1B visas. In a Friday post on X, Musk told those who don’t agree with him to “take a big step back and F— YOURSELF in the face,” adding, “I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
For some background: The H-1B visa was established in 1990 as part of the Immigration Act, allowing 65,000 people every year to move to the U.S. To engage in “specialty occupations.” The U.S. Can grant an additional 20,000 visas annually for those with a master’s degree or higher—and the government can also extend visas. It approved more than 309,000 requests to extend three-year H-1B visas in 2022, according to a report from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The online debate around H-1B visas started in full on Christmas Day, when right-wing influencer Laura Loomer slammed Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an advisor for AI policy in the next administration; Krishnan, notably, wants to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S., which Loomer declared “not America First policy.” When David Sacks, Trump’s pick to lead AI and crypto at the White House, jumped into the fray to defend the tech industry’s need for foreign workers, Musk and his co-lead at the upcoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Vivek Ramaswamy, did the same.
“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” Ramaswamy said on X. “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”
Trump weighed in on the debate over the weekend, backing Musk and Ramaswamy by saying, “I’ve always liked the visas.”
“I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” he told the New York Post. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”
To be clear, though, Trump railed against the H-1B visa program in 2016, calling it “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. Workers, even though his own businesses—including his Mar-a-Lago resort—employed foreign workers under H-2B visas. Meanwhile, Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, uses the H-1B program.
Musk continues leading the charge on the debate. He likened America to “a pro sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning,” saying “bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1% of engineering talent” is essential. Many conservatives didn’t like Musk’s comparison, though: Alt-right activist Jack Posobiec, responding to Musk’s post, said, “The American people don’t view America as a sports team or a company. They view it as their home.”
Loomer—who called out the similarities between Musk’s “contemptible fools” comment and Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” moment—said “the Trump base is being replaced by Big Tech executives.”
“I feel so sad for MAGA,” she said.