For the past few days, certain highly visible elements of the MAGA coalition have been sparring with one another. Specifically, X users have been privy to an extensive immigration policy flame war between two competing MAGA coalition camps: the pro-immigration "tech bros," on the one hand, and the nationalist-populist immigration restrictionists, on the other hand. The debate has focused, above all, on the thorny question of so-called high-skill immigration. A Politico headline summarized the dispute as "Elon Musk vs. Stephen Miller."

The "tech bros," led by Musk and his incoming Department of Government Efficiency co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy, have been arguing that we must amend America's already generous and already byzantine immigration laws to permit more "high-skill" foreigners to come work here on H-1B and O-1 visas. This, we are reliably informed, is necessary because there are simply not enough qualified Americans to fill the precious roles in industries such as high tech. The argument has, at times, sounded outright offensive; Ramaswamy, for instance, justified his preference for cheap foreign labor by excoriating American culture itself.
Call it the "America First case for America Last."
The actual "America First" constituency of MAGA -- those representing the men and women who have been sold out by decades of neoliberal failure -- has responded to the avaricious "tech bros" with dismissal and, at times, righteous indignation.
It is certainly salutary that the exciting MAGA coalition is airing out its dirty laundry before Donald Trump resumes power in -- thank God -- three and a half weeks' time. It is even more salutary that the debate is not over the relatively easy issue of illegal immigration but over the more complex issue of legal immigration.
But as interesting and healthy as this debate is, it is imperative that the nationalists-populists win -- and that the "tech bros" shut up and be put back in place.
Immigration is the most important issue because ...