There is absolutely no way I can sum up the insanity among the chronically-online types that just happened over on X.
But I'll try.
While most of you were enjoying the day after Christmas, all-out war was raging in the comment section over immigration. As it turns out, people on the political right have differing opinions when it comes to immigration.
(Keep this "Boy Meets World" GIF in mind, it will be relevant in a moment.)
It started with this post on Christmas...
And now we're here, with Democratic governors agreeing with Elon Musk on CNN:
As Trump voters blast Elon :
If you want a summary of what happened, this suffices 👇
If you want more details, well, let's start with Vivek Ramaswamy, who decided to wade into the immigration debate with this hot take:
[Warning: This is a short essay so get your reading glasses if you need them 🤣]
See, I told you that "Boy Meets World" GIF would be relevant!
People didn't take kindly to Vivek's outdated references or his personal summation of American culture and work ethic.
Most of the replies were similar (some were a bit more colorful). Trump voters started wondering what was happening.
Elon and Vivek are supposed to be leading a department to make recommendations for massive government spending in line with Americans' concerns, and immigration is at the top of that list.
Which is why this reply from Elon was not particularly ... helpful.
Shot:
Chaser:
Let's be fair to Elon: Give the guy who was willing to fight the entire establishment and risk both his fortune and reputation for freedom some credit.
He was agreeing with the wider premise of that post: That an invisible rift on the Right has now been made visible.
But the "retarded" thing was part of the package, so the replies were not so gracious.
Elon argued that he was only talking about the very top level of specialized jobs in particular fields, but people took issue with that argument as well.
H-1B visas allow companies to hire foreigners for specialized jobs. The logic behind it is that America needs to stay at the cutting edge of innovation and capability if it is to stay dominant on the world stage. By bringing in someone with highly specialized skills, you deny a competitor nation that person as an asset and you widen the available applicant pool for U.S. employers so they can fill jobs faster.
The problem is, that system is routinely abused to get cheap, compliant labor in entry-level, non-essential positions, which is why the Uniparty loves it.
It's important to note that Trump and JD Vance (as well as Vivek!) have all been on the record as critical of the H-1B system.
And then there were the comments from both the white supremacists and the Indian supremacists (while all the normal Americans got called racist too).
There's no easy solution to this mess. Propping up a system that is abused to take away jobs from Americans (particularly in the era of DEI discrimination) while taking advantage of foreigners at the expense of their own own nations is not good. It may make America a bit more competitive and investors a bit richer, but it doesn't make this country better or moral.
Even Uniparty neocon Nikki Haley understands this.
Not to insert myself into this mess too much, but perhaps the most enlightening thing about this poo-flinging contest is how America has made competition, GDP growth, and technological advancements our gods.
Look at where it's brought us.
Let me pivot away from the highlights about national sovereignty and cultural identity for a moment.
The reason millions of people love CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien is because they were sages for our post-modern, secular age. They knew that the pursuit of power and objects are mere shadows of purpose that can consume you if you are not careful. Putting human boots on Mars is an admirable goal, but only if the driving force is to glorify God, not elevate man.
(CS Lewis wrote an entire space trilogy about this that you should read.)
Is our objective in hiring more engineers to "spread consciousness to the stars," or is it to proclaim the wonders of God's power and beauty, like the astronauts aboard Apollo 8 did on Christmas Eve in 1968?
On a practical level, it might be wise to cut all the arguing about the 500,000 or so H-1B visa holders who are in the U.S. currently until we have deported the tens of millions of illegals who are running rampant in our communities. The Venezuelan gangs are several orders of magnitude higher on the list of priorities than the Indian engineers at Tesla.
A wise man might say we should enjoy Christmas instead of arguing about these things a month before Trump is even in office, so that we can worry about the mass deportations first and debates with the tech bros later. A wise man might also note that there is merit in both (many?) sides of the debate.
But practicality, its praxis only gets us so far. If America wants to fix the immigration problem, it needs to fix its spiritual problem first - from the keyboard warrior to the Silicon Valley CEO.
