is it elon musk or is it is it someone like a laura loomer? and those who are arguing with him right now online? >> look, obviously there's there's a lot of different opinions within the party. uh, i subscribe just as i outlined the fact that a we need to secure the border, b we need to actually fix the legal immigration system. i do think you need to lift the caps to me. i don't care where somebody comes from. where they come from is irrelevant. the question is, are they filling the economic needs of the country? and with respect to americans and american jobs, the fact is we have to revamp our education system. we need a system that is actually producing more engineers, that is producing the workforce that is required today. and the fact is, we need more vocational skills. we need folks going to vocational schools. the k through 12 system shouldn't just be a pipeline to college, it should be a pipeline to a job. and that's what our focus has to be, both from an immigration standpoint and from an education standpoint, to have the workforce th

if he controls that platform, he can cause trump a lot more pressure than when laura loomer and theseer renters can cause. but, i do think it is important to remember that the populist movement has been telling republican voters for a generation, arguably two generations, that immigration is the cause of almost all of the evils in the life. i think molly and eugene are both right. he will be hearing from those grassroots folks and it will cause a tension with elon that i don't think is reconcilable. >> molly, so, to that point, it is the big first test of maga ability to govern. how would you rate their performance so far? >> i almost think the first big test might have been when donald trump asked them to shut down the government and then he was like, let's get this debt ceiling raised and that was something that just didn't even happen, at all. look, the problem is donald trump promised everything to everyone, so he said, i'm going to make things cheaper, i'm going to do this, i'm going to do that, and a lot of the things that donald trump promised are things that are not doable, ri

laura loomer writing. stop watching boy meets world and turn on bollywood so you can watch rape culture steal your job, culture and someone else calling india a filthy third world hellscape and writing. if it's so exceptional, why doesn't its tech talent want to stay there? notable also that laura loomer and some of the other people making these comments have a long history of racist, xenophobic comments about immigrants, but about a lot of other people. and now it's out in the open. scott, one of the things one of the people who's been kind of at war with laura loomer over this is elon musk, and he commented on a post today, the contemptible fools that he's referring to in a previous post are those in the republican party who are hateful, unrepentant racists. they will absolutely be the downfall of the republican party if they are not removed. has this debate revealed that there are, in fact, a lot of people in the, you know, maga coalition who just don't want nonwhite people to come into this country? >>

you saw loomer always tends to be in the middle of this.um, she people always came after her, obviously for her kind of 911 denialism and so on and so forth. whenever she went to the 911 and now here they are. she's going after other people. but at the end of the day, i mean, trump himself has said that he thinks that if you graduate from a u.s. college, that you should get a green card. and i think that's kind of been where the party where he believes that, where he's aligned and that's kind of what ellen and vivek were saying as well, where they're kind of talking about. yeah, like if you graduate and we should give skilled workers green cards. and that's kind of where the infighting started. so i think they are more in line with where trump is than where loomer and them are at the at the current moment. and so i think that's kind of, um, the infighting is just one side just wants no immigration wants complete pause. the other side wants kind of still strict immigration policies. they want to stop illegal immigration and they have really

soon after criticizing musk, loomer said her verification on x had been removed and her subscriptions canceled. accusing musk, a supposed free speech warrior, of censorship. matt gaetz saying of big tech, we did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy. axios saying, the fight exposes one of the deepest contradictions in the maga movement. it came to prominence via the white, less educated working class but is under the full control of billionaire industrialists, many of them immigrants. the cracks in the maga wall starting to show all before trump even steps into office. joining our conversation, eugene daniels, political contributor, also with us, rick wilson, co founder of the lincoln project. rick, that did not take long. i would love to start with you and get your reaction to this christmas immigration maga civil war that's playing out. we all could see it coming over the last several months. now it has fully exploded into the wide open on x nonetheless. >> it is an inevitability the non- non-college educated base, which is the majority, were always going to be precondition

loomer launching a series of posts, such as our country was built by white europeans, actually, not thirdld invaders from india. >> it's about becoming indentured servants at lower wages. >> reporter: the controversy is over h-1b visas. letting highly-skilled tech workers work in the u.s. for six years. the tech industry is heavily reliant on foreign workers. musk saying if you want your team to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. >> i think this is a pregame, a sign of things to come. the tensions between what you call the populist nationalist wing of the republican party and the new tech elite. >> reporter: while trump has promised a hard-line on illegal immigration and mass deportation, many in the tech industry are pushing him to expand legal immigration for high-skilled workers. an idea he's hinted he's open to for foreign students. >> somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can't even make a deal with the country because they don't t think they can stay in thcountry. that is going to end on day one. >> are they going to focus on the be

that was laura loomer's point. that was several other of the kind of high profile maga people who jumped into this conversation. but i would also point out that this larger conversation, as our other panelists have have pointed out already, but as this larger conversation comes to a head, it does highlight tensions, preexisting tensions that have come to the fore, but that were hidden for a long time as people rallied around donald trump to elect him to office. perhaps more importantly, a lot of businesses have actually, this is why they are putting their hat in with donald trump, because they want to offset this kind of pro, uh, anti-immigration, pro-business bent on the base. and that's where the tensions really arise from. >> jamal, i'll give you the last quick word right here. other strange bedfellows, perhaps, uh, governor jared polis, bill de blasio, both siding with the doge bros here and actually agreeing with vivek and elon. are we going to see more strange bedfellows in this coming year? >> we are going t

laura loomer taking to twitter to slam adviser sri nan krishna for his support.g a series of posts saying our country was built by white europeans, actually; >> it's about taking over american jobs and essentially indentured servants at lower wages. >> it lets foreigners with highly-coveted tech skills work in the u.s. for up to six years, a program applauded and defended by some of mr. trump's closest advisers, including elon musk, vivek ramaswamy and the tech industry, which is shyly reliant on skilled workers. musk responded by saying, if you want your team to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. >> i think this may be a pregame. a sign of things to come. the sign between the nationalist and trump techy league. >> reporter: many in the tech industry are pushing him to expand legal immigration for high- skilled workers, an idea he's hinted he's open to for high scoring students. >> if someone graduates at top of the class, they can't even make a deal with the company because they don't thk they'll be able to stay in the cou

laura loomer is an immigration critical trump loyalist. she says her blue check mark was removed and her subscriptions deactivated because of her opposition to musk. loomer told steve bannon's war room she sees trouble ahead. >> why does this guy have unfettered access to president trump? and what are the the national security implications of this? i know that you've spoken out about this, and we really need to have an honest conversation about this. at what point do we say, thank you so much for supporting president trump and donating to his ground game. but these conflicts are inappropriate and they're going to create potential controversy for president trump and his his nominees in the trump administration. we need to have an honest conversation about this that isn't blinded by people's love fest. for a technocratic billionaire. we need to protect president trump from these conflicts. >> musk has called some trump supporters contemptible fools who must be removed from the republican party root and stem. musk's and ramaswamy's focus on s

>> yes, that is laura loomer and she's got a lot of problems. but on this one, she's pointing out something that actually a lot of people have been pointing out about elon musk. >> so in fairness, my audio is out. so i didn't hear anything that she said. but i wouldn't listen to what laura loomer said anyways. well, just as a general rule, let me. so this is you can't miss anything. it's very consistent. >> you didn't miss. let me play them even though you won't be able to hear this. but hopefully we'll get it fixed. this is vivek ramaswamy talking about the same thing, but actually, a couple of years ago. >> markets are war, and what they do is they get companies that become beholden to china. >> and i think tesla is increasingly beholden to china. if china then pulls the pulls the rug or even threatens to pull the rug out, all of those people turn into plants. >> they have no reason to think that elon won't jump like a circus monkey. when xi jinping calls the hour of need. >> again. i mean, this is why generally, at one point we thought it was

speech issue which is how apparently how he handled loomer criticizing him.s it continues. as the world turns, it's a soap opera. the problem is it's a soap opera that's real. >>> coming up, new ceos, same challenges, companies like starbucks, nike, boeing and intel all going through leadership changes in 2024. will this new group be able to turn their companies around? well, yale's management guru jeff sonnenfeld lle he wi bre next to assess it all. "squawk box" comes back right after this. you're a rock star. we're all rock stars. oooo look look at my data driven insights, i'm a rock star. great job putting finance and hr on one platform with workday. thank you! guys, can you keep it down. i'm working. you people are (guitar noises). hand over the air guitar. i've got another one. growing your business is easy once you know the moves. with godaddy websites plus marketing, you can quickly create a website, and ai will customize it for you. get your business out there and get more customers in here. no sweat... for you anyway. create a beautiful website in mi

and it is at complete odds with the laura loomer's of the world who are saying, hey, we don't want to see this. any kind of an expansion of this form of legal immigration, of high skilled foreign workers coming in to work in the united states. it creates a fascinating political rift into which, as you noted, donald trump is not yet taking a step fully. >> yeah. to that point. and i think this has been hard to pin down for all of the rhetoric and very clear agenda items on donald trump's immigration planning and what he did in his first term. he's always been a little bit kind of back and forth on this issue of high skilled workers, on visas for high skilled workers, he said. was kind of ambiguous about it during his first term, even as his administration, the denial rates for these visas, uh, jumped dramatically. they suspended them at one point during 2020. internally, his team was working hard. it seemed to cut back legal immigration. i don't think it seemed that way. it actually was happening externally. the president elect has said things like this. listen to the contrast of these

loomer claims that the visas take jobs away from american workers. as of last night, president elect trump had yet to weigh in on the latest back and forth on h-1b visas. he has restricted them in the past. nicole d'antonio, abc news, washington. >> all right, let's get a look at the weekend forecast. i think for us, lozenges should be included in whatever we do this weekend. >> i know, i know, having a tough time getting rid of our colds, right. and unfortunately, it's not the kind of weather that makes you think of being outside and healthy and all that for maybe a couple more days, a couple more days here with the details. >> i say hi there. >> yeah, larry and kristen, we just have to wait a little bit longer before you get a break from all of this. let me show you a live picture again from santa cruz. i'm trying to draw your attention to this because the surf is still dangerous. watch out! look at how bad it is along the coastline in santa cruz. uh, watch out for the big waves. high surf advisory going until sunday morning. looking at live dopple

loomer claims that the visas take jobs away from american workers. as of last night, president elect trump had yet to weigh in on the latest back and forth on h-1b visas. he has restricted them in the past. nicole d'antonio, abc news, washington. >> the end of the year also marks the end of the line for a legacy hardware store in san francisco. the shelves, as you see here, are mostly bare at poppenhausen hardware in west portal. the store has been around for 88 years and it is now going out of business. the owner says the store never fully recovered from the pandemic. >> habits changed as soon as the pandemic began, and we saw a 30% reduction in customer count on the street. and that is not a number that a small store like us can recover from. >> poppenhausen hardware opened back in 1936, changing ownership only twice over those 88 years since it has been in business. a local charitable tradition in the east bay got a big upgrade this year. mary meyer and nesta smith runs the do gooder garage out of her home every holiday season, taking year in dona

maga supporter laura loomer tweeted, the h-1b program takes away jobs from american stem students.lon musk then came out in support of the visa program. abc seven news insider phil matier says this is a tricky balancing act for trump. >> he's not only in favor of these high tech visas, he's also talking about expanding them to where if someone completes from outside the country, comes to america and completes a four year college program, they should automatically get a green card. that's bringing a competitive workforce into america that will be competing with native born americans for jobs. >> silicon valley companies rely on h-1b workers. google and meta each were approved for 5000 h-1b workers just this year. give you an idea of the need coming up. the mega millions jackpot is now more than $1 billion. we're going to show you the one east bay store considered especially lucky, where billionaire hopefuls lined up to buy tickets. and we have a quick programing note for you. the niners last home game of the season is right here on abc seven. it's a rematch of last year's nfc champi

maga supporter laura loomer tweeted, the h-1b program takes away jobs from american stem students. in a post, musk said there is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in america. >> look at musk himself. he is one of the products of the h-1b visa. i mean, we don't have elon musk. you agree disagree with him. we're not going to have tesla. we're not going to have spacex x uh- starlink. >> abc seven news insider phil matier weighed in on musk's support for the visa program. >> he's not only in favor of these high tech visas, he's also talking about expanding them to where if someone completes from outside the country, comes to america and completes a four year college program, they should automatically get a green card that's bringing a competitive workforce into america that will be competing with native born americans for jobs. >> on friday, marjorie taylor greene made the case. young people are spending all their time trying to be, quote, the next youtuber, content creator or social media influencer. instead of pursuing a useful skill set. trade education.

maga supporter laura loomer tweeted, the h-1b program takes away jobs from american stem students. in a post, musk said there is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in america. >> look at musk himself. he is one of the products of the h-1b visa. i mean, we don't have elon musk. you agree disagree with him. we're not going to have tesla. we're not going to have spacex x uh- starlink. >> abc seven news insider phil matier weighed in on musk's support for the visa program. >> he's not only in favor of these high tech visas, he's also talking about expanding them to where if someone completes from outside the country, comes to america and completes a four year college program, they should automatically get a green card that's bringing a competitive workforce into america that will be competing with native born americans for jobs. >> on friday, marjorie taylor greene made the case. young people are spending all their time trying to be, quote, the next youtuber, content creator or social media influencer. instead of pursuing a useful skill set. trade education.

this started with a far right activists laura loomer criticizing a stance on expanding skilled immigrationning the administration with views in opposition to transamerica first agenda. that started a fight with musk, vivek ramaswamy as the incoming all of them saying they need these visas and workers in order to stay competitive. they say trump is on their side. he said this summer anyone who graduates from college in the u.s. should automatically get a green card to stay. these visas aren't a huge part of overall immigration. they are capped at 85,000 per year but they are used primarily by tech companies. amazon applied for more h-1b visas than any other company. other big names among top users as well, tesla applied for 742 of these this year. you can see a couple others as well. it's a small but influential sliver of the workforce but it's also the first time we are seeing real division within the party on this. musk versus maga. the question is whether this might preview more fights to come between these two camps. >> i don't know how influential she is in that part of the party or th

in one corner of the smack down is the guy you just saw, steve bannon, aligned with laura loomer of the world and they insist that american jobs are for american workers including these jobs. the other corner, the other maga titans, people like vivek ramaswamy and elon musk, one time worked in this country on h-1b visa. they maintained that an american emphasis on their words, quote, mediocrity of our excellence has created a need for additional high skilled labor, and you can only get them from other countries and you need these visas. musk went so far as to call some trump supporters, quote, contemptible fools over the matter. things got so heated that trump himself had to mediate. he weighed in and the new york post saying he, quote, has always liked these visas. whether it settles the issue or not or whether it's even the visa he thinks it is, it's unclear but it is a sign of what is to come. in the near times this, quote,, this is not a discrete one-off dispute. this is the kind of core tension you get in your party when you do as trump has done. taken a dynamic free-market capital

it's got them this, a civil war with laura loomer, sernovich, marjorie taylor greene and i hope they'll tim, your were actually involved in the tweet with the "r" word. i think it's telling not just because of the sort of disingenuous nature of the arguments but the sort of disdain with which these unelected, these unelected individuals who have policy influence have for the actual voters. talk a little bit about how that can be a problem going forward. because what vivek ramaswamy wants to say and elon musk wants to say ends up having consequences for those who have to go out and get votes in the republican party. isn't that a bit of a problem? >> i was involved in that tweet with the "r" word that i was making fun of it. you have to be deep inside to find it. it was unfortunate that cory from "boy meets world" caught strays in this whole argument. it's funny we've gotten to this point. we just had an election so it won't be for a while, but it does show that there was an over throw of the old republican guard, which i was once a part of many years ago now, almost a decade ago now. the

senators holding out and holding off, and not to mention, people like elon musk, vivek ramaswamy, laura loomer, and who knows who else could come out and hop on truth social or x and post something and derail, you know, just the latest step in the transition or the confirmation hearings, so, you know it does feel like we are a long way from the republican national convention when you had people getting back in line and making up with president-elect trump or even, you know, these meetings that have been happening, these feel- good meetings happening at mar- a-lago. could they be derailed if somebody hops on social media and says they have an issue with any of these picks? i think the h1b visa back and forth that we have seen back and forth could be a preview of what is to come with the nomination hearings. >> trouble in maga paradise could equal rocky waters for the rest of us. thank you aaron haynes and phillip bump for getting us started on this second hour of velshi. >>> the tale of two grandfathers who bought homes in the early 1900s. 100 years later, their stories have different endings.

and there are people who will likely find some common ground with miss loomer here and start attackingted process. immigration is probably the issue where republicans are most united. i think tax policy will be a lot more difficult. but even though they have momentum, even though the country wants to see a greater immigration enforcement, border security, there are these divisions among republicans and some of these positions are really kind of out there.ut i mean, these visas are important to the country, they're important to our economy. employers need people who do nethese jobs. so this is a good example of how complicated life could be d particularly in the u.s. hous next year -- that he assumed the gavel again, which i believe he will. >>> i'm wondering, when you look at this republican coalition and these competing ideologies that are emerging within it, do you think it is durable? i mean we're even seeing factions within the supposed cabinet, can they hold this altogether. will this get worked out in the wash as they start to govern or is it a real risk factor. >> it is going to

he weighed in again on friday, something that drew a lot of ire from far right pundits like laura loomernd ann coulter. i'm going to read to you what he said. musk said, quote, the reason i'm in america, along with so many critical people who built spacex and tesla and hundreds of other companies that made america strong, is because of h-1b. he added, i will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. so as of now, it does seem that donald trump and elon musk are aligned on this issue, despite a lot of the backlash, we've seen musk and others who have supported this program receive this week. alayna treene. cnn. west palm beach, florida. >> so as the biden administration winds down, newly released images are raising doubts about his claim that he never had any business related contact with his son. cnn's marshall cohen has the details. >> new pictures released this week of joe biden, when he was vice president, meeting with some of his son, hunter biden's business associates in china. these images, released by the national archives after a lawsuit from a r

maga supporter laura loomer tweeted. the h-1b program takes away jobs from american stem students. in a post, musk said there is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in america. >> look at musk himself. he is one of the products of the h-1b visa. i mean, we don't have elon musk. you agree disagree with him. we're not going to have tesla. we're not going to have space x uh- starlink. >> abc seven news insider phil matier weighed in on musk's support for the visa program. >> he's not only in favor of these high tech visas, he's also talking about expanding them to where if someone completes from outside the country, comes to america and completes a four year college program, they should automatically get a green card that's bringing a competitive workforce into america that will be competing with native born americans for jobs. >> on friday, marjorie taylor greene made the case. young people are spending all their time trying to be, quote, the next youtuber, content creator or social media influencer. instead of pursuing a useful skill set trade education. so

maga supporter laura loomer tweeted, the h-1b program takes away jobs from american stem students. in a post, musk said there is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in america. >> look at musk himself. he is one of the products of the h-1b visa. i mean, we don't have elon musk. you agree or disagree with him? we're not going to have tesla. we're not going to have space x uh- starlink. >> abc seven news insider phil matier weighed in on musk's support for the visa program. >> he's not only in favor of these high tech visas, he's also talking about expanding them to where if someone completes from outside the country, comes to america and completes a four year college program, they should automatically get a green card. that's bringing a competitive workforce into america that will be competing with native born americans for jobs. >> on friday, marjorie taylor greene made the case. young people are spending all their time trying to be, quote, the next youtuber, content creator or social media influencer. instead of pursuing a useful skill set trade education

maga supporter laura loomer tweeted, the h-1b program takes away jobs from american stem students. in a post, musk said there is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in america. >> look at musk himself. he is one of the products of the h-1b visa. i mean, we don't have elon musk. you agree or disagree with him? we're not going to have tesla. we're not going to have space x uh- starlink. >> abc seven news insider phil matier weighed in on musk's support for the visa program. >> he's not only in favor of these high tech visas, he's also talking about expanding them to where if someone completes from outside the country, comes to america and completes a four year college program, they should automatically get a green card that's bringing a competitive workforce into america that will be competing with native born americans for jobs. >> on friday, marjorie taylor greene made the case. young people are spending all their time trying to be, quote, the next youtuber, content creator or social media influencer. instead of pursuing a useful skill set. trade education

the h-1b visa program for skilled workers, maga supporter laura loomer tweeted.s from american stem students. elon musk then came out in support of the visa program. abc seven news insider phil matier says incoming president trump may have opened up a pandora's box of immigration issues. he may have a hard time controlling. >> immigration is a far more complex issue than just building a wall or tearing it down, and that's why it's been such a hot button issue that people don't really want to address. because once you start talking about, let's say, what are we doing at the border, you open up to say, well, what are we doing about tech visas? what are we doing about investment visas? there's a whole lot of doors and windows that people might not feel comfortable looking into right now. >> silicon valley companies rely on h-1b workers. google and meta each were approved for 5000 h-1b workers this year. mr. trump is asking the supreme court to delay a ruling on a potential tiktok ban until after he takes office. mr. trump wants his administration to pursue a politic

trump advisers elon musk and vivek ramaswamy are facing off against another trump ally, laura loomer, over support for h-1b visas for foreign workers. as of last night, president elect trump had yet to weigh in on the latest back and forth on h-1b visas. he has restricted them in the past. nicole d'antonio, abc news, washington. >> a local charitable tradition in the east bay got a big upgrade this year. maya anita smith runs the do gooder garage out of her home every holiday season, taking year in donations and distributing them to local organizations and families in need. as part of the lamorinda care collective. many of the brand new items come gift wrapped, and this year she teamed up with a local realtor and began operating out of an empty storefront in lafayette. >> i invited the community in lamorinda to give, and i was blown away by the response. it's been the best thing i've ever done in my life. >> the storefront opened december the 7th, and even though the holiday season is coming to a close, the collective is not. with all the support they've gotten, smith will keep it ope

he weighed in again on friday, something that drew a lot of ire from far right pundits like laura loomernd ann coulter. i'm going to read to you what he said, musk said, quote, the reason i'm in america, along with so many critical people who built spacex and tesla and hundreds of other companies that made america strong, is because of h-1b, he added. i will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. so as of now, it does seem that donald trump and elon musk are aligned on this issue, despite a lot of the backlash, we've seen musk and others who have supported this program receive this week. alayna treene. cnn. west palm beach, florida. >> the trump administration is, of course, preparing for an aggressive immigration crackdown when it returns to power. but migrants are already facing hardship before they even get to the u.s. carol suarez has more. >> edouard is a barber with an american dream. >> he left venezuela a decade ago and is now in mexico city. >> la frontera. >> i'm heading to the border. since i got here. >> it's been eight months and i've tri

he weighed in again on friday, something that drew a lot of ire from far right pundits like laura loomer and ann colter. i'm going to read to you what he said. musk said, quote, the reason i'm in america, along with so many critical people who built spacex and tesla and hundreds of other companies that made america strong, is because of h-1b. he added, i will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. so as of now, it does seem that donald trump and elon musk are aligned on this issue, despite a lot of the backlash, we've seen musk and others who have supported this program receive this week. alayna treene. cnn. west palm beach, florida. >> elena. thank you. for years, president joe biden maintained that he never had business related contact with his son hunter. but new photos from the national archives cast doubt on those statements. hunter biden's foreign business deals have been under the microscope for years. while he was never accused of corruption. federal prosecutors charged him with tax crimes. cnn's marshall cohen has more on the revealing lawsui

he weighed in again on friday, something that drew a lot of ire from far right pundits like laura loomer and ann coulter. i'm going to read to you what he said. musk said, quote, the reason i'm in america, along with so many critical people who built spacex and tesla and hundreds of other companies that made america strong, is because of h-1b. he added, i will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. so as of now, it does seem that donald trump and elon musk are aligned on this issue, despite a lot of the backlash, we've seen musk and others who have supported this program receive this week. alayna treene. cnn. west palm beach, florida. >> well, let's stay on u.s. politics for a bit longer as the biden administration winds down in washington, newly released images are raising doubts about the president's claim that he never had any business related contact with his son. cnn's marshall cohen has the details. >> new pictures released this week of joe biden, when he was vice president, meeting with some of his son, hunter biden's business associates in chi

the entire week, despite a lot of people on the right, including people like ann colter and laura loomertrong allies of donald trump as well, who have said this isn't the right way, that, you know, american workers should be prioritized, not foreign workers, even if they are highly skilled. and one thing, though i will say as well, we did see donald trump on the campaign trail this year, starting to kind of warm up to this idea where he had said that immigrants who come to this country and graduate from united states universities should be able to get a green card to stay in the united states. all to say, this is what we first heard from donald trump. it's unclear what is going to happen once he is actually in office, and any kind of policy changes we may see to this program. >> rahul also unclear if his words now will bridge the divide in the party. now that he has sort of stepped into the conversation. alayna treene thank you. and with just over three weeks until his inauguration, president elect donald trump is promising to hit the ground running as soon as he takes his oath of office

we saw people like laura loomer, ann colter, mike cernovich, the conservative pundits. can go on saying that, you know, americans are also, you know, well-suited for a lot of these jobs. why do we have to rely on foreign workers? now, the one person we haven't heard weigh in on all of this is donald trump. but of course, he's going to have to address this at some point once he is in office. he's also been kind of ambiguous on this issue in the past. we know that under his first administration, you saw h-1b visas decline as well as at one point actually be delayed or stopped altogether. but then recently, he also said that he would be open to having, you know, people who graduate from colleges in the u.s., immigrants wanting to stay. so it's kind of unclear right now where donald trump stands on all of this. >> phil, we'll have to wait and see. we'll check the text messages. truthsocial alayna treene in west palm beach. thank you so much. let's jump straight to our panel. scott jennings i don't want to go into a deep dive of saved by the bell with you. i have no doubt yo

fighting, but really, you know, kind of clawing at each other between elon musk and people like laura loomerharlie kirk that were out there saying that these are not steve bannon, as you said, these are not programs that we support. these people are just coming in. these people being tech moguls, coming in and trying to manipulate the system of donald trump when his base doesn't believe this. >> so just to demonstrate what kristen is referring to there. steve bannon has been on his program, i think, today, continuing to be very angry about this issue. war room. this was elon musk saying, quote, the reason i'm an american or i'm in america, along with so many critical people who built spacex, tesla and hundreds of other companies. is that made that made america strong is because of h-1b take a big step back and blank yourself in the face. i will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. now noted followers of great movies saw a little bit of a hint of the les grossman character in tropic thunder in that quote, although i don't think he's explicitly said it se

what ramaswamy said, because this really sparked a lot of backlash from far right pundits like laura loomer and ann colter. i'm going to read for you what he said. he said, quote, our american culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long. a culture that venerates corey from boy meets world or zack and slater over screech and saved by the bell, or stefan over steve urkel in family matters, will not produce the best engineers. now, part of the reason i think this has, you know, really struck a nerve among many of donald trump's supporters is because we've seen people, including people like his former u.n. ambassador and primary rival nikki haley, argue that americans should be able to have these jobs first, these jobs first. they should be the ones who are prioritized. now, one person we have not heard from in all of this, wolf, is donald trump, who himself has kind of been ambiguous on this issue. we know during his first term, we saw he saw a decline in h-1b visas, but now he's also been arguing that he does believe that immigrants who come to this country attend a unit

ramaswamy, some of which drew a lot of ire from people on the far right, including people like laura loomer and and ann colter. here's what vivek ramaswamy said. he said, quote, our american culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long, at least since the 90s, and likely longer. a culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian will not produce the best engineers. he went on to cite characters in, you know, modern american culture, like cory from boy meets world, zack and slater over screech and saved by the bell, or stefan over steve urkel in family matters, saying they will not produce or that will not produce. the best engineers. all to say, we are seeing a lot of backlash from this now on. x on social media. like i said, from a lot of these far right pundits, one person, though, who we've not heard weigh in is donald trump. and he as well on this issue has been kind of ambiguous. we know that during his first term, he kind of, you know, at one point there was a big decline in h-1b visas. at one point, it was to

it's something that drew the ire of conservative pundits like laura loomer and ann colter and mike cernovichwe also saw vivek ramaswamy, the person who with elon musk is going to be running donald trump's department of government efficiency. both of them really weighing in to back up the h-1b visa program. now, we also heard from musk weigh on, weigh in on this again yesterday night. i want to read for you what he said. he said, quote, the reason i'm in america, along with so many critical people who built spacex, tesla and hundreds of other companies that made america strong is because of h-1b. i will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. now, to be clear, donald trump has kind of been ambiguous on this issue in the past. during his first administration, we actually saw h-1b visas decline. the people who were able to get them, the number of visas that were awarded to people declined during his first term. and at one point they even were suspended altogether. but recently, on the campaign trail earlier this year, donald trump told a podcast that he actua

actually are pretty inclusive society and that immigrants did build this country up, unlike what laura loomer said, saying that it was white europeans who built the united states. we know very well it was former formerly enslaved people and of course, immigrants who have built the american exceptionalism that we see and feel today. so, you know, it's going to be difficult because we have midterms coming up, and there are members of congress, especially from the maga right, who are going to have a difficult time messaging this pro-immigrant policy to their base that they depend on. and i think that actually fares better for democrats. and there's a little bit of a wedge there in terms of where democrats, yes, can negotiate, but also use it as a campaign mechanism where, you know, the base is going to be very much against this key. the key issue that donald trump built his entire brand on. >> pete, there was always going to be some divide that was going to happen at some point, right? there was going to be some division, which happens no matter how seemingly in lockstep folks are with the presi

. -- loomer. the crux was the h-1b visas.y are saying musk is not maga yet he is so close to president-elect trump. is it a risk he could lose the proximity to power which is one of the best bets of the ages? dan: it's a bet for the ages. that bromance gets stronger. trump needs musk. musk needs trump. whether it is ai, china, whether is the policy in terms of doge, we will have these dustups. that will strengthen and continues to be for musk the best bet he ever made on trump. dani: this is -- annmarie: this is just a flareup? dan: it's one episode in a 10 to 12 parter on netflix. annmarie: dan ives, thank you for joining us. an update on stories elsewhere. here's your bloomberg brief. yahaira: bitcoin's rally is losing steam as trader's take profits after a stellar rise. there may be some volatility ahead for the cryptocurrency. a substantial party of bitcoin options contracts expire today. it is one of the biggest such offense in the history of digital assets. you could be jeff bezos' neighbor in south florida. a plot of l

the last week, and you have seen donald trump's traditional base being the steve bannon's the laura loomereople who have been with him for the last several years fighting against this idea of the h-1b visas. these are legal visas that that encourage legal immigration to bring over, as you said, these skilled workers. they were saying that this is not what donald trump stood for. elon musk, on the other hand, it's not just elon musk, but several of the silicon valley tech moguls all support this program, which they say has helped them. brought one. elon musk was was using one of these visas, but also have brought over a ton of skilled workers for their companies. this is what they say. you start to see this kind of unfold on twitter. these two factions of the party, the new and the old. this is what trump had to say when he talked to the new york post. he said, i've always liked the visas. i have always been in favor of the visas. that's why we have them. i have many h-1b visas on my properties. i have been i've been a believer in h-1b. i have used it many times. so just a couple things to

laura loomer said it was in direct opposition to trump's agenda.k and vivek ramaswamy strongly disagreed and fired back with separate online coasts that backed foreign born workers. back with we now, tim miller and phillip baum. and washington post national investigative reporter carol lenning. two washington post reporters all awesome people. thank you for joining me. carol, let me start with you. this puts donald trump in a remarkably awkward position. not just because two of his friends are fighting openly on the internet with a deep divide between them. but trump might have to way in policy specifics. do you have any sense of where he might land? do you have any intuition about how he will side in this fight? >> i think the best answer to that question alex is past his prologue. when we watch trump as president in the first term, most important question he constantly asked his advisers whether it is chief of staff or miller or steve bannon would he ask over and over again. how about my base? how will this go with my base? so important to him. i

you saw that with the laura loomer episode, he backed away so the question is, will they learn any lessonsshandling the past week, but for democrats and those who are pushing back on the movement, it's also important that they not take the wrong bait and what i mean by that is perhaps with elon musk, it's not about the personality, not about him being such an unlikable character and buddies with trump, but there's an outsized influence of his money in today's politics. is it that what elon musk typically says, is full of misinformation and raw ignorance, so are we governing through rot ignorance and they don't understand how the process works, doesn't understand what it means to real people if you have to cut the budget or shut down the government, those are the fair fights, taking the bait like we just saw donald trump do was a mistake for trump and it would be a mistake for those who resist donald trump to take the same bait. >> i want to do an entire hour on which bait is worth taking. what matters in the lives the american people and what's just noise because they give so much, right,

laura loomer spent much of the fall cozying up to trump before his campaign pushed her aside. >> this is not a civil war because they aren't tough enough. they're just not. >> i don't think that it's acceptable for george soros, elon musk, it doesn't matter what side of the political i'll a billionaire is on. i don't think that it's acceptable for billionaires to have this much power and this much access. >> on the policy dispute here -- and there is a real one, trump actually took musk's side coming out in support of h-1b visas in comments to the "new york post." "i have many h-1b visas on my properties. i've used it many times. it's a great program." i have to say i think trump meeting confused here. i don't think his properties are hiring a ton of software engineers off h-1b. as "the new york times" reports, trump has been a frequent and long time user of the similarly name but stark by different h2 visa program for unskilled workers like gardeners and housekeepers. you can drive yourself crazy trying to track trump's position on anything at any given moment. in 2016 he called for

. >> so susan, you have republicans ranging from the far right, like laura loomer, steve bannon, to theikki haley. they have strongly come out against this h1b visa. with such an eclectic mix of republican dissent on this issue, how politically damaging could this decision be for trump in the eyes of his maga base and republican moderates on this issue? >> i think trump wins with his base, no matter which side he takes. he'll always win with the base because they follow him pretty much blindly. when we talk about the steve bannons and the others, they are talking about ending basically a possibility of legal immigration and legal entry into the country. that's not what donald trump talked about on his campaign. yes, he's kind of hinted that he was against it before and now he's for it. and however that turns out. but this is such a stupid fight for them to pick because donald trump will win it, because he will win it by coming out or acting strong on deportation, which i agree with matt, like he's not going to get the job done that he's promised, but with donald trump, all you need is a