President Donald Trump’s defense of the H-1B visa program during a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham this week set off one of the sharpest MAGA backlashes of his presidency.
Pressed by Ingraham on whether he would continue allowing large numbers of foreign skilled workers into the country, Trump rejected her argument that the U.S. should “raise wages for American workers” instead of flooding “the country with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands” of foreign workers.
“I agree,” he said, “but you also do have to bring in talent.” When Ingraham countered, “We have plenty of talented people here,” Trump replied: “No, you don’t, no you don’t … you don’t have certain talents, and people have to learn.”
Trump cited as an example a Georgia manufacturing plant that was recently raided, arguing that the workers there were needed to teach and manufacture what he said were complex technologies like batteries.
“It’s very complicated,” he said. “You can’t just… take people off an unemployment line that haven’t worked in five years and they’re going to start making the missiles. It doesn’t work that way.”
Ingraham: Does that mean the h-1b visa thing will not be a big priority for your administration?Trump: You have to bring in talentIngraham: We have plenty of talentTrump: No, you don’tIngraham: We don’t have talented people here?
That rationale, portrayed as pragmatic by Trump, landed like a gut punch to some of his most ardent supporters, many of whom see the H-1B program as a symbol of globalist priorities that undermine an “America First” agenda. The reaction from parts of the right on X was swift and visceral.
“Even if it were true that we don’t have enough talented people in this country, which it isn’t, that would be all the more reason to stop importing foreigners,” said conservative commentator Matt Walsh. “We need to train up our own people. Give actual Americans a shot. America is for Americans.”
“I am one of the largest pro-Trump commentators in the nation,” added Matt Morse, another commentator, in a post on X. “I get tens of millions of views every single month talking about Trump’s America First agenda. And right now, I’m absolutely f**king beyond PISSED OFF that tonight, as a justification for H-1B visas, Trump said that Americans don’t ‘have talent.’ Absolutely unreal.”
Mike Cernovich said Trump “broke everyone’s heart with this line about the American workforce and H-1Bs.”
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“We have a lot of talent right here in the USA. End H-1B,” wrote Christina Pushaw, who works for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I really hope that Stephen Miller or someone else can explain to President Trump that is NOT what we voted for,” added Wall Street Mav, an account with over a million followers. “This is a path to giving away the midterms in 2026 and Democrats launching investigations and impeachments for two years. His base is going to stop caring soon if this continues.”
Other supporters of Trump’s MAGA agenda also warned of the potential electoral consequences.
Without calling out Trump by name, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wrote on X that she believes the American people are“good talented, creative, intelligent, hard working, and want to achieve,” and that she is “against you being replaced by foreign labor, like with H1Bs.”
This isn’t the first time that a pro-immigration stance on skilled visas has rattled the MAGA base. Earlier this year, Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy faced sharp criticism from prominent pro-Trump commentators after both voiced support for expanding H-1B visas, which many saw as a betrayal of the president’s agenda.
