The backlash escalated Thursday, when Vivek Ramaswamy, in a post on X, criticized an American culture that he said “venerated mediocrity over excellence.”

Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and other members of President-elect Donald Trump’s Silicon Valley coalition are clashing with the MAGA movement’s hardline anti-immigrant faction, and it’s allegedly resulted in Musk stripping far-right critics’ verification badges on X.

The battle playing out on X, the MAGA public square, has gone viral and turned personal over Musk's describing US workers as not 'super motivated'

Musk, the owner of car manufacturer Tesla and social media platform X, has been tapped by Trump to lead the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, after vocally supporting and financially backing his campaign for president.

A heated online debate over immigration policy exposed a growing rift between Donald Trump’s Silicon Valley supporters – including billionaire adviser Elon Musk – and his ardently anti-immigration base,

We may be seeing some of the first major fissures forming in the Trump-Musk dalliance. Over the holiday week, Elon Musk entered into a heated online debate with notable Trump figure and culture warrior Laura Loomer over the president-elect's immigration policy,

As Loomer railed at Musk for backing legal immigration for skilled tech workers, his X platform took away Loomer’s blue-check verification badge