In the Time of the Tech Bros


Published January 23, 2025

National Review

The recent fierce online debate over H-1B visas exposed the potentially vast chasm between the MAGA base and the so-called tech bros — Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and others. While both factions have their place in the new conservative coalition, President Trump must ensure that he tilts heavily toward the base over the bros when the two sharply conflict.

Such a conflict is likely given the stark differences in worldview between the two factions.

Those who make up the MAGA base tend to be pessimistic about America and look longingly back to a country that was friendlier to their outlook. They see the dramatic rise in immigration, and not just illegal immigration, as a problem. They long for an America where working- and middle-class families who just want to live quiet lives can get ahead. They tend to be Christians and want to feel they can practice their faith and raise their children in the moral code they abide by.

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Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, studies and provides commentary on American politics. His work focuses on how America’s political order is being upended by populist challenges, from the left and the right. He also studies populism’s impact in other democracies in the developed world.

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