MAGA vs. Big Tech

Richard Hanania, a grouchy libertarian I read on Twitter/X sometimes, has landed in the middle of an angry internet fight that he thinks has important implications. He wrote:

The right wing civil war is going to be over Indians.

The populists hate all immigration. The Tech Right will go along with them on Latin America and Africa because of the skills issue. They'll go along with Muslims because of cultural concerns.

High-skilled Indians is the one group where racism is the only explanation for wanting to restrict numbers.

He got thousands of responses to this and other, similar tweets that generally go like this:

Why should Americans not prioritize other Americans over Indians?

I want my kin to get into American schools and companies before foreigners do. Is that irrational? Is that a problem?

I would rather the USA slide down into an economic/technological backwater than deal with this preponderance of third world genius/saints. Our native stock is only overlooked because we are too expensive for the corporate/academic world and much harder to coerce.

Hanania responded by reaching deep into his bag to throw the worst insult in his lexicon at MAGA:

Again, this is the exact same logic and worldview of the wokes. Merit, talent, and economics don't exist. Every group could succeed as well as every other. If one gets ahead, it's because it practiced racism. You can get the demographic balance you want through will power. . . . I told you nationalists had the same resentment-fueled collectivist ideology as the wokes.

White nationalists are just like the woke! Come to think of it, he has a point; Imbram X. Kendi and Steve Bannon do agree on one thing, that if their people are not getting ahead it is because they are being blocked by nefarious forces.

Hanania thinks the alliance between MAGA and right-wing types will be short-lived because the tech world needs high-skilled immigrants:

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.

I loved this exchange:

Commenter - I could invite smart strangers to live in my house too, but I don't for mostly the same reasons I don't want mass meritocratic brown foreigner importation. Why would I want infinite Indians in my home country just because they can do mid-tier IT work? I care about more than GDP.

Hanania: Right, you're also driven by hate and a sense of inferiority.

As a side effect of all this, Hanania started to hear from dozens of Indian tech workers thrilled that a white conservative is standing up for them in such strong terms. Several even donated to his Patreon. He wrote to them directly:

To all Indians out there. I know it’s been a tough day. You have seen the face of racism. But know that you belong, and together we will defeat the bigots. They do not represent who we are.

I wonder if this is right. Is the "tech right" going to split from Trump and MAGA over H1-B visas and Indian immigration? If so, who will win?