DAVID MARCUS: MAGA’s H-1B ‘civil war’ is exactly how politics is supposed to work

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There are two pieces of very good news that have come out of the infighting over H-1B visas for foreign skilled workers in Trump World this week. The first happy accident is that tensions are already easing, much to the chagrin of liberals who hoped they were witnessing a permanent schism.

The second, even better development, is that both sides of the admittedly zesty debate have listened, compromised, and arrived at a better and clearer set of positions for the Republican Party moving forward.

A side-by-side of Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk. (Getty Images/AP Images)

In the red corner, we had the twin heads of the Department of Government Efficiency, Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk who appeared at first to call for expansion of the H-1B visa program that allows employers to use foreign labor when they cannot find qualified Americans.

In the other red corner, we had Steve Bannon and a host of prominent America Firsters all but calling for an end of the skilled foreign worker program, a policy that would no doubt cause considerable chaos and disruption.

On Saturday, President-elect Trump weighed in, sort of, telling the New York Post that he likes the visa program and uses it himself, but not endorsing any expansion. And this is of course the same Trump who fired board members of the Tennessee Valley Authority for using foreign workers over Americans.

By Sunday morning, as parents quietly sipped coffee and spied the news on their phones, the kids getting a little more sleep before church, things had calmed down considerably in this impromptu intramural immigration debate.

For his part, Ramaswamy, after an ill-advised X post this week criticizing American families for having more sleepovers and movie nights than their South Asian counterparts, has backed off of his cultural high hill and retrained his sights on the real issue at hand.

The only real losers in the wake of this kerfuffle are the Democrats and liberal talking heads who hoped that they were watching MAGA tear itself apart.

Meanwhile, Musk arguably moved even further to the center of the issue, posting late Saturday night that the excesses of the H-1B visa program are “easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H-1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.”

Or as Musk ally and head of Trump’s office of Artificial Intelligence David Sacks put it, ‘Elon has said that H1B should be overhauled, that it should focus on exceptional talent in high-value areas, and that the scams and low-pay jobs should end. This is not to say there aren’t still differences but less than it first appeared. Time to move forward as one team.’

This is music to the ears of the America First crowd and great news for the young American architect or graphic designer who just wants a level playing field, one where they don’t lose again and again to cheap foreign competition.

Meanwhile, the Bannonistas, who have been by Trump’s side from the very beginning a decade ago, are easing their attacks on newcomers Ramaswamy and Musk, and appreciating that they are all on the same team.

The only real losers in the wake of this kerfuffle are the Democrats and liberal talking heads who hoped that they were watching MAGA tear itself apart. As Republicans work out their differences, instead of munching on popcorn, the left is eating crow.

There are some lessons to take from the recent unpleasantness. At one point, some in the pro H-1B crowd, and some on the left, accused those in opposition of anti-South Asian racism, a terrible lie and an even worse message. Thankfully, this did not last long.

And it is important that the generally leftist tactic of pointing and yelling racism did not work because these are exactly the fights that make our foreign foes with their trolling social media bot farms drool, and they were working overtime to divide Americans this week.

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Thankfully, it failed.

In the end, as tempers cooled and discourse bent back in the direction of congeniality and good faith. What we are left with is a fructive and fulsome debate over a nuanced issue.

Of course, the United States wants to attract the best and the brightest to help chart out a technological course forward, but we also don’t want to tell a truck driver that the kid he sends to college is going to get passed over for cheaper foreign counterparts.

The opportunity to balance these concerns over attracting the best from elsewhere, while not burdening our own citizens’ ability to achieve is upon us. Compromise really is possible. It might not always look like a church social, it might get a little rough around the edges, but as a wise man once said, ‘politics ain’t beanbag.’

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Trump takes office in about three weeks, and it bodes well for his upcoming four years as president that those who serve and support can not only argue with pointed vigor, but also come together with an honest give and take when called for. 

The battle of the H-1B turned out not to be a crisis in MAGAland, but rather a roadmap for compromise and competent governance.

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