Well, that didn’t take long.
The logic-twisting alliance between Silicon Valley’s new oligarchs and the home-spun patriotism at the heart of the Republican grassroots movement is shattering before our very eyes.
MAGA stalwarts like Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz are already turning their fire on the tech bros who helped bankroll Donald Trump’s comeback bid for the White House before he is even sworn in as president for a second time.
It was always going to end in tears, but few observers predicted that an all-out MAGA civil war would erupt before we even reach the New Year.
Overnight, Trump cheerleaders have used Elon Musk’s platform to attack the world’s richest man—and many now claim Musk is using his social media omnipotence to shut them down.
“Never insult the monarch,” MAGA chronicler Mike Cernovic warned his 1.3 million followers. Musk replied: “I am constantly insulted on this platform.”
That was the final straw for Laura Loomer, a failed Republican congressional candidate who got so close to Trump during the campaign that she accompanied him on the plane to the presidential debate with Kamala Harris.
“This is America. We don’t have a monarchy. This is outrageous,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after claiming that she was being censored on the platform by Musk.
Loomer waded into the Boxing Day culture war sparked by Vivek Ramaswamy’s controversial post claiming that “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.” A debate over H1B visas has quickly descended into a bitter feud between those—led by the tech crowd—who believe importing highly skilled workers from abroad will boost the American economy and those—like Trump himself—who have long argued that the visas are being abused by companies seeking cheaper foreign labor to the detriment of American workers.
The traditional white working-class bedrock of the MAGA movement, which sprang from the Tea Party, has always been intensely focused on reducing immigration, something Trump championed during his first term, symbolized by his promised wall along the border with Mexico.
Musk tried to steer a path between the two sides, “clarifying” his DOGE partner’s comments by saying that H1Bs should only be used for the very top talents, but the MAGA majority appeared not to be placated.
Loomer claimed Musk and Ramaswamy infiltrated the movement for their own ends. “I have been more loyal to President Trump and his agenda than ANYONE. And I have only been punished for it. Pay attention MAGA. This is how you will all be treated now that Big Tech has infiltrated MAGA. “President Musk” is starting to look real,” she said.
Former president Donald Trump moved to hire his racist firebrand pal Laura Loomer—a far-right, Islamophobic 9/11 conspiracist who earlier this month was paid to say she eats dog food—but one of his top advisers swooped in and blocked the hire, according to a report in Axios.
/ Laura Loomer/X
She also posted a clip from a speech and a statement by Trump decrying the abuse of H1B visas.
“Tech bros have never seen this statement from @realDonaldTrump because they only decided to pretend being MAGA 4 months ago after Trump almost has his head blown off in Butler, PA. I am an original MAGA Trump supporter. I’m as die hard as they come. MAGA! AMERICA FIRST!”
Soon after her intervention, Loomer found that her X privileges had been curtailed. She said her checkmark had been removed, and her subscriptions had been canceled.
“BREAKING: @elonmusk also just canceled all of my subscriptions and sent a message to all of my subscribers saying, “Laura Loomer deactivated her subscriptions” as a way to demonetize me. That’s a lie. I didn’t do it. Why would I cancel my own subscriptions? This is @elonmusk retaliating against me for speaking truth. @elonmusk is a free speech fraud. Big Tech just doesn’t want to be held accountable. What am I guilty of? Supporting Trump’s own POLICY of banning H1B visas and fighting for American tech workers. @realDonaldTrump Elon wants to attack your loyalists. This is unacceptable.”
Dozens of other accounts criticizing Musk and Ramaswamy’s position also claimed that their checkmarks had been taken away.
The executive director of Women for America First, Kylie Jane Kremer, said hers had disappeared. The ConservativeOG group on X said the same had happened to them and their affiliated influencers.
“Woah, @elonmusk just stripped our entire organization of badges and verified org status. I guess this is what you get when you hand the keys over to an autistic, power-hungry, self-aggrandizing traitor to his country,” wrote MAGA influencer Preston Parra.
Raheem Kassam, co-founder of Steve Bannon’s War Room, posted: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” He posted a clip of Colorado’s Democratic governor Jared Polis telling CNN that Musk was right to defend the H1B visas. “When @jaredpolis is your ideological ally, @elonmusk, you know you done f***ed up,” he wrote.
Disgraced former congressman Matt Gaetz, Trump’s unlikely pick to head the Justice Department, suggested that Musk and his Silicon Valley allies stay in their lane.
“We welcomed the tech bros when they came running our way to avoid the 3rd grade teacher picking their kid’s gender – and the obvious Biden/Harris economic decline. We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy.”
