Elon Musk appears to be winning, since Trump seemed to publicly back him over the benefits of the H-1B program. And as the owner of one of the world’s most influential social media platforms, who also has a direct line to president-elect’s ear, Musk is undoubtedly more powerful than the vast majority of Trump’s other MAGA backers.

A simmering debate over work visas exploded over the last days of the year, exposing a rift on immigration among President-elect Trump’s closest supporters. The H-1B visa — a temporary,

I mean, it was embarrassing,” Steve Bannon said on Monday, referencing Elon Musk’s tweets over the weekend when he said the H-1B visa program needed to be “reformed.”

A Trump World civil war has erupted over visas for highly skilled workers, with the president-elect’s new tech industry allies like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on one side and the anti-immigration MAGA base on the other.