Although Trump pick Sriram Krishnan found support in fellow 2.0 nominee David Sacks and US Rep Ro Khanna, MAGA significantly turned against him. US President-Elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Indian American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan for the post of Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy over the weekend has sparked a huge row. Online feuds on X, voicing MAGA’s strong opposition to H1B visa extension, were fuelled mainly by what far-right political activist Laura Loomer believes is a counter-attack on the “America First” agenda, which the incoming president ostensibly stands for.
MAGA opposes Indian-origin Sriram Krishnan’s Trump 2.0 nomination
In November, the Chennai-born coder doubled down on the need to remove country caps for green cards, considering how the 7% limit especially adversely impacts eligible skilled workers from countries with huge populations, resulting in a painfully expanded pool of green card backlogs.
Loomer started the debate against Krishnan on X, saying, “Deeply disturbing to see the appointment of Sriram Krishnan @sriramk as Senior Policy Advisor for AI at the Office of Science and Technology Policy.” Claiming that his agenda went against the ‘American First policy,’ she added, “It’s alarming to see the number of career leftists who are now being appointed to serve in Trump’s admin when they share views that are in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda. “How will we control immigration in our country and promote America First innovation when Trump appointed this guy who wants to REMOVE all restrictions on green card caps in the United States so that foreign students (which makes up 78% of the employees in Silicon Valley) can come to the US and take jobs that should be given to American STEM students.”
Sriram Krishnan finds support
Although the Bay Area Venture capitalist and fellow Trump 2.0 nominee David Sacks defended his stance, emphasising “Sriram is definitely not a ‘career leftist,’ the fuse had already set off. Some arose in support of Krishnan’s claims, insisting that the US “need to recruit the best and brightest and build the best companies,” as highlighted by American “entrepreneur, investor, & philanthropist” Joe Lonsdale.
Far-right activists tear into Sriram Krishnan
Streams of sub-tweets and quote-posts consumed the debate as right-wing commentator Richard Hanania took aim at the Palantir Tech co-founder’s remarks. “This is one of the biggest splits between MAGA and the Tech Right. MAGA doesn’t want foreigners around no matter how talented they are. Tech people know that’s crazy. They’ll try to argue to MAGA that it is about letting in people with high skills but that won’t convince them,” he bemoaned on X.
His fellow conservative commentator and podcaster Scott Greer shot back at David Sacks’ “point of clarification” about how Krishnan “didn’t say he wants to remove all caps on green cards. He said he wants to remove *country* caps on green cards.”
