Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 18/03/25

Savvy? He is just agreeing with what President Musk said.

If Trump wants to allow immigration of highly skilled, highly paid and scarce Tech professionals thats not against the interests of American workers. If he were promoting more immigration of low-paid and low skilled workers, that would be a different story.

Being more savvy than a MAGA fanatic isn’t a high bar 😂 But Trump doesn’t appear interested in allowing immigration of highly skilled, highly paid and scarce tech professionals, nor does he appear interested in the welfare of American workers when he avails of a separate, but similar sounding visa program to employ low-paid and low-skilled workers who aren’t American -

President-elect Donald J. Trump appeared to weigh in on Saturday on a heated debate among his supporters over the role of skilled immigrant workers in the U.S. economy, saying he had frequently used the visas for those workers and backed the program.“I have many H-1B visas on my properties,” he told The New York Post. “I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”

But his comments — which were enthusiastically embraced by the technology industry as an endorsement — may muddy the waters because Mr. Trump appears to have only sparingly used the H-1B visa program, which allows skilled workers like software engineers to work in the United States for up to three years and can be extended to six years.Instead, he has been a frequent and longtime user of the similarly named, but starkly different, H-2B visa program, which is for unskilled workers like gardeners and housekeepers, as well as the H-2A program, which is for agricultural workers. Those visas allow a worker to remain in the country for 10 months. Federal data show Mr. Trump’s companies have received approval to employ over 1,000 workers through the two H-2 programs in the past 20 years.The Trump transition team did not reply to multiple requests for comment seeking clarity on the type of visas the president-elect was referring to in the interview.

https://archive.ph/G4x3m

H1B, or H2B, that is the question…

/exits stage left 😬

The question over whether the visa program is actually of any benefit to American workers and the US economy is still very much clouded in all sorts of rhetoric that it’s difficult to discern it’s real value and who exactly is benefiting from it:

https://www.epi.org/blog/new-data-infosys-tata-abuse-h-1b-program/

(again, 10 year old article, difficult to find more up-to-date analysis and commentary yet)

Because Trump ran on a platform of anti-immigration.

He never nuanced his ideas. Immigrants were bad. Bringing crime and drugs and stealing people's jobs.

So it is not surprising that his supporters felt that Trump was anti-immigration.

Now he wants everyone to step back and it's only some Immigrants that are the problem.

Super skilled, taking all the best jobs is fine. And low skilled, taking the low paid jobs is fine as well.

Trumps supporters will be shocked since this was never the message they were sold. Of course any rational thinker could see this a mile off.

Now, I don't for a second think this will impact any of his supporters. They will simply realign to the new line Trump is selling and swear thats really what they wanted all along. We have seen it so many times already.

That's on them, Trump has said he supported high skilled immigration before most notably in the allin podcast.

The online Nativists version of Trump just doesn't exist in reality, yeah he is a racist, but those romanticizing about high levels of deportation need to touch grass.

I don't think it matters in the real world this anyway , those who are on the opposite side of Elon are for the most part online fascist freaks who most normal people won't know.

Trump's stance "bad immigrants, nope, high skilled immigrants yes please" which isn't the most nuanced obviously is where a lot of his supporters are especially compared to what Loomer and her ilk wants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PQocqwvjhY&t=60s

So a foreign student that gets a diploma and top of their class should also get a green card? But they would have came to the US on the H-1B visa which has a minimum requirements of a bachelor degree. So those on H1-B can just do some night classes in the same field they hold a degree in and one would assume they would graduate top of their class with a diploma and then automatically get a green card?

I've actually seen the longer clip and he makes even less sense. It's now graduating from a junior college = green card, then it's any college, then he speaks of getting a doctorate…. he (as usual) makes no sense.

I think he's not even siding with the Tech Right (green cards = less control) and the Right Right will see it as just more immigration.

The Tech/Right-Right are talking about immigration, he's talking about allowing them to stay. Now I can totally understand his point. He doesn't want to see people coming to the US on H1-B Visa's to go back to their own country with the skills they have learned and directly compete with US companies. Tech-Right won't want that competition, they would rather keep the as low paid workers and Right-Right, just don't want them taking American jobs.

Don't agree. There are MANY applications for these jobs despite what the companies would like you to believe. How many baristas with CS degrees work at Starbucks in the US?

There is a glut of PhD's in every field in the US (let alone Master and Bachelor's degrees.) I'm not even considering junior college grads, as they don't get masters or higher and, generally, will have a tougher time finding a job with an equivalent candidate with a degree from a 4 year full time school. I submit there is NO need for H1B employees at all in CS positions in the US. Likewise, once they have their green cards, I doubt many go back to the old sod to work. I've known a few that went back to retire or family reasons. (NB: this includes high level degrees in the arts, for which there never are jobs, or journalism, but my experience is with CS and my anecdotes mostly from there.)

Getting a job everywhere, involves connections first and foremost. People on the inside pave the way for those on the outside that they know to get jobs. The corporations totally game the job application process, hiding openings, etc. Contract employees seem to also be mostly H1-B's in CS jobs in my experience. Probably some serious salary gaming there as the corporation pays the same amount (if not more) for contractors, but the 'contractor pimps' are free to do whatever they want salary-wise. Another mostly unregulated industry that is abusive to its employees, and a big part of the H1B problem.

If you think that's not true, check out University hiring, which in theory is a bit more regulated. Offspring of faculty get full time jobs, benefactor's children get jobs, etc. etc. Unis also hide the job availability announcements, just like corporations.

Quality goes down drastically if looking within the internal market, someone currently working as a barista will only be suitable for a junior position which are already being filled by interns who then become graduates. The better candidates will find a role, others will find it hard as they just don't have the skillset or mindset needed.

I just checked their job requirements, you're not required to be a US citizen. So they definitely hire people on Green cards.

Trump ran on a platform of anti illegal immigration.

He didnt run on a platform of anti immigration.

To say his supporters felt that Trump was anti-immigration of all forms is just nonsense.

To say his supporters felt that Trump was anti-immigration of all forms is just nonsense.

Of course, Republicans, that’s Republicans, would never be under the impression that when Trump says he’ll make America great again, means he plans to do so by encouraging cheap immigrant labour, and displacing American workers. Then again ‘Republican’ doesn’t appear to mean much these days anyway so you could be right too and Trump supporters really are just a bunch of useful idiots.

But he's never heard of project 2025 and doesn't know anyone involved in it.

The next president is still liable for sexual assault.