At a time when Donald Trump's inner circle should be working on getting his Cabinet nominees primed for getting Senate approval, now time is being spent tamping down on a foreign worker controversy that has riled the president-elect's base forcing him to have to weigh in.
At the center of the controversy are comments made by Trump advisors Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk about America needing more H-1B foreign specialty workers which has erupted into a war with Trump's MAGA base that had been promised "America First" policies.
Appearing on CNN early Sunday morning, longtime political observer Lynn Sweet claimed the timing could not be worse and it has forced Trump to take sides –– which is not being received well.
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Speaking with host Amara Walker, the Chicago Sun-Times journalist explained, "What we're seeing here is a civil war being triggered by the unelected advisers to President Trump, so let's just see where this goes. Immigration is the most important issue to the MAGA base and now the DOGE, you know, he appointed Musk and Ramaswamy to reform government, have waded into an area of making policy."
"So not only is this a fight Trump did not need, it is needlessly dividing the base," she added. "And on that point you made of Trump defending what Musk is doing and saying he will fight to the death to expand or keep H-1B visas, so while it's true that it seems that Trump is backing him, the reason he's giving is incorrect."
"Trump has said that I have many H-1B visas on my properties," she explained. "Well, he is not referring to the highly skilled workers who qualify for those visas. But what Trump has used on his properties, including his vineyard and his other resorts, are workers who qualify for visas under their status as hospitality or agricultural workers."
"So in one swoop here, Musk has muddied the waters and created a problem he didn't have to and we'll see if Trump will continue to tolerate this kind of trouble-making, unnecessary trouble-making," she predicted.
Watch below or at this link.