An online debate over high-skilled immigration between Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and MAGA evangelists reveals Donald Trump’s Republican Party is grappling with growing pains as it prepares to retake the White House.

The rift laid bare the tensions between wealthy members of the tech world – including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers – and people in President-elect Trump’s MAGA base who championed his hard-line immigration policies.

The backlash escalated Thursday, when Vivek Ramaswamy, in a post on X, criticized an American culture that he said “venerated mediocrity over excellence.”

The world's wealthiest tycoon wants more visas for engineering talent, but conservatives including RFK Jr. vice-presidential pick are savaging the H-1B program as predatory.

Social media posts by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy arguing in favor of expanding the visa program for highly skilled workers have set off a debate among supporters of President-elect Donald Trump over how the program should fit into the incoming administration’s aggressive immigration agenda.

Elon Musk decried a "dire shortage" of engineering talent in the U.S. in social media posts advocating for increased high-skill immigration.

The past couple of days have exposed a fissure in Donald Trump’s coalition over H-1B visas, used by major tech firms and some major media congloms to lure highly skilled workers to employment in the United States.