In much of the English-speaking world, but not America, the day after Christmas is called Boxing Day. For reasons that are entirely unclear, DOGE bros Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk decided to take the occasion to don boxing gloves and throw haymakers at native-born American workers.
What started off with Musk saying on his social media platform X, and not for the first time, that he needs more foreign-born geniuses to work for him quickly morphed into Ramasawamy dressing down American families for indulging their children with sleepovers and trips to the mall.
Apparently, big tech needs foreign workers because we raise our kids the wrong way.
Ramaswamy insisted on X that native-born families need ‘more math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less ‘chillin.’ More extracurriculars, less ‘hanging out at the mall.’’
The former presidential candidate says he is just telling us ‘hard truths’ by suggesting every family should emulate some South Asians, who he points to as a shining example.
But guess what? The United States of America is a nation, not simply a farm system for big tech. And by the way, the very reason that China steals innovation from us, not the other way around, is that our backward, hayseed attitudes create free thinkers, not drones. At least when we aren’t playing the banjo on the porch.
Every native-born American kid applying to college this year is going to compete against students from foreign lands, including communist China, who will be extended a red carpet to use the American educational system. And when those American kids graduate, they may find themselves passed over for entry-level jobs because of foreign competition.
Musk says that American tech workers aren’t good enough. Well, then maybe we need to stop giving away thousands and thousands of spots at top schools and do a better job of teaching our own.
When I went to Springfield, Ohio, in September, I heard factory owners there claim they need 15,000 Haitian migrants because, unlike Americans, they show up on time, pass their drug tests, and willingly work overtime. It was downright insulting to American workers, but no more so than Musk and Ramaswamy mocking the native born and their cultural traditions.
And, not for nothing, big tech has the added advantage that workers brought in with H-1B visas lose their immigration status if they lose their job. That’s a lot of leverage that the tech bosses don’t have over American workers.
Now, it seems like MAGA has its first, full-blown civil war since Trump won the election almost two months ago, but looks can be deceiving. In fact, both Ramaswamy and Musk are, thankfully, walking back their ill-advised duet.
That’s because outside of nouveau-right sushi hotspots in Palo Alto, nobody in the America First Trump coalition thinks replacing American workers is a boffo concept.
This unfortunate moment was an unforced error, but no serious damage was done. Sometimes the math guys need a dose of the humanities, or at least a trip around the block.
The Department of Government Efficiency, with which President-elect Donald Trump has entrusted Musk and Ramaswamy, has to understand that our country is not a corporation, or as Musk put it, an NBA team looking to win.
The role of the government of the United States is to ensure the right of Americans to live as they see fit, not to fit as a cog into the machinations of billionaire geniuses, domestic or foreign. And Americans have a right to ensure that the institutions they pay for are actually advancing Americans.
This is a learnable moment for two bright, brilliant and brash stars who embrace freedom to understand that life and liberty are a pulsing heart rate, not a bottom line.
This unfortunate moment was an unforced error, but no serious damage was done. Sometimes the math guys need a dose of the humanities, or at least a trip around the block.
American college grads deserve a fair shake; They shouldn’t have to compete with H-1B visa competition, and no American should be training their cheaper H-1B replacement.
The first order of business for the Trump administration is to close the border and deport criminals. After that, the nuanced negotiations over legal immigration can begin.
But there must be one important caveat. The American worker has to be treated with respect. Because without him or her, we have no country.
Americans don’t celebrate Boxing Day, and we don’t celebrate rich people knocking the working man. Hopefully, for Vivek Ramaswammy and Elon Musk, this unforced error is a lesson learned.