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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.
How are brokers helping to drive the fuelling transition?By Khari A. Thompson The Patriots have a young, promising quarterback in Drake Maye. Since taking over for Jacoby Brissett, Maye has shown flashes of arm strength, athleticism, and poise that should bode well for his future. But, it hasn’t translated to wins. The Patriots (3-10) are still in the mix for a top-5 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Bill Simmons, who is the founder and CEO of The Ringer and a longtime Boston sports fan, is less than impressed with the job the Patriots have done surrounding Maye with talent. He shared his frustrations with the way New England handled the offseason on X. “If you take out picking Drake Maye at #3 (which was the most obvious pick possible),” Simmons wrote. “The Patriots first offseason of draft picks and free agent signings without Belichick was legitimately an F-minus. Bad draft picks and super-cheap discount spending. You get what you pay for.” The Patriots, who were in need of a quarterback after a pair of disastrous seasons from Mac Jones, selected Maye No. 3 overall. Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels were already off the board by then. The Patriots had at least one offer to trade down, but they stood pat and took Maye. If you take out picking Drake Maye at #3 (which was the most obvious pick possible), the Patriots first offseason of draft picks and free agent signings without Belichick was legitimately an F-minus. Bad draft picks and super-cheap discount spending. You get what you pay for. https://t.co/eVzSNZa0qM The other picks in the draft have not added much production this season. Second-round pick Ja’Lynn Polk has 12 catches for 87 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 12 games this season. That’s an average of one catch for 7.25 yards per game. Javon Baker has zero catches on one target in eight games. Tight-end Jaheim Bell has one catch for one yard. Offensive linemen Caedan Wallace and Layden Robinson have combined for eight starts. Marcellas Dial has six tackles and a forced fumble. Joe Milton hasn’t thrown a pass since the preseason. Simmons’s post was a reaction to a report about the Patriots’ decision to waive receiver KJ Osborn. Osborn, who posted 48 catches for 540 yards and three touchdowns last season with Minnesota, saw his production dip dramatically after signing with the Patriots in the offseason. He fell out of the Patriots’ rotation, catching seven passes for 57 yards and one touchdown in seven games. Despite signing Christian Barmore, Kyle Dugger, Rhamondre Stevenson, Jabrill Peppers, and Mike Onwenu among others to contract extensions, the Patriots ended up with more than $35 million in leftover cap space, which is third-most in the league according to Spotrac. They brought in Antonio Gibson, who was a former 1,000-yard rusher with the Commanders. He has 373 yards and one touchdown in 13 games. They signed Chukwuma Okorafor, whom they hoped would be part of the solution at left tackle. He left the team. Defensive back Jaylinn Hawkins, who has 39 tackles, has been one of the more productive offseason acquisitions. The Patriots are four games away from their second offseason under Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo. The roster has many holes left to fill. Khari A. Thompson Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss. Sign up for Patriots updates🏈 Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during football season. Be civil. Be kind.
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GM pulls plug on Cruise robotaxi after investing more than $10B in self-driving businessGRAND FORKS — The latest defense authorization bill expands mental health care access for North Dakota’s military service members and adds new provisions for countering threats posed by unmanned drones. Those are among the provisions touted by North Dakota’s two U.S. senators in the annual National Defense Authorization Act. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law Monday after it passed by divided votes in the House and Senate. ADVERTISEMENT Language in the latest NDAA includes an order to establish a counter-UAS task force combatting drone incursions onto U.S. military bases and several provisions for current service members’ mental health care, including measures singling out pilots of U.S. combat drones. Drone incursions have been reported in recent weeks over U.S. military bases in England and Germany, while residents of several eastern states have reported seeing numerous unidentified lighted drones flying overhead, though U.S. officials say most of the latter incidents have been manned aircraft. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said the NDAA “helps formalize what (the Defense Department) is already doing” to combat unwanted drone use, citing the counter-UAS goals of Project ULTRA and ongoing efforts to integrate drones into U.S. airspace at the Northern Plains UAS Test Site. Project ULTRA — which stands for UAS logistics, traffic, research and autonomy — seeks to boost national security and operational efficiency of unmanned aerial system operations. “The interesting thing about Grand Forks is we’ve built an ecosystem where, I’ve talked about us being the tip of the spear against China; we’re the tip of the spear in developing drone and counter-drone,” Hoeven said. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., has championed a provision that expands the number of mental health providers certified under military health insurance provider TRICARE. Cramer said he pushed for the expanded access in response to a pair of suicides among Grand Forks Air Force Base personnel in the past several years. “The standards to join TRICARE are so stringent now, they don’t take into account that some states like North Dakota only have certain accreditations and certifications that are available to them,” Cramer said. “If you don’t get the right credential — it’s not that it’s a better credential, just the right one — your providers don’t meet the standard for TRICARE.” ADVERTISEMENT He’s also pushed for a provision creating a combat status identifier for pilots of remotely piloted aircraft involved in combat operations. Cramer cited as inspiration the 119th Wing of the North Dakota National Guard, which flies MQ-9 Reaper unmanned planes. “Our remote pilots are treated differently when it comes to things like PTSD potential or depression or mental health challenges as the result of, say, a kill shot,” he said. “I wanted to make sure the remote pilots are given the same type of consideration as somebody that’s in the cockpit of an airplane.” This year’s NDAA also authorizes $1.9 million in planning and design funding for maintenance on Grand Forks Air Force Base’s runway — one of Cramer’s pet projects — and reauthorization for the Space Development Agency’s mission, including its recently-established Operations Center North at Grand Forks Air Force Base. Hoeven said his office is working to appropriate another $450 million toward an advanced fire control system built off the SDA’s network of low-Earth orbit satellites. Other North Dakota-specific provisions in this year’s NDAA include authorization for funding to update the UH-72 Lakota helicopters used by the North Dakota National Guard and funding authorization to modernize Minot Air Force Base’s nuclear capabilities. Policy measures, like more provider options for mental health care or the counter-UAS task force, became law with the passage of the NDAA. ADVERTISEMENT However, NDAA provisions that require funding — like nuclear modernization or the runway study — will need to pass in a separate defense appropriations bill. “An authorization just says that it’s approved,” Hoeven explained. “In defense appropriations, we allocate the dollars to do it, and if we don’t provide those dollars for the NDAA, for those authorizations or programs, then obviously they don’t advance.” The federal government is currently operating at last year’s funding levels via a continuing resolution set to expire in March. Congress will have to attempt to pass a defense appropriations bill before then or pass another continuing resolution. The NDAA usually passes with significant bipartisan support. This year, however, the bill passed with significant dissent from both House and Senate Democrats after a last-minute amendment by House Speaker Mike Johnson added language barring TRICARE from covering some gender-affirming care for transgender children of service members. Both Hoeven and Cramer expressed support for Johnson’s amendment, which blocks gender-affirming care “that could result in sterilization” — though medical professionals say hormone therapy (like puberty blockers) generally does not cause infertility. Cramer said providing gender-affirming care did not support military readiness and dismissed concerns about the mental health impact of denying that care to minors. “(The amendment) has a much lower priority than caring for people who are stressed out by the fact that they’re a warfighter,” he said. “We need them to be healthy, we need them to be ready for war, and puberty blockers, gender-affirming care, just simply don’t do either of those things.” ADVERTISEMENT Hoeven said gender-affirming care was hurting military readiness and recruiting and decried providing gender-affirming care as a “social experiment,” a phrase also used by Cramer. President-elect Donald Trump is widely expected to reinstate a ban on transgender service members in the U.S. Armed Forces, as he did in his first administration. North Dakota’s U.S. senators also dismissed concerns that the Johnson provision could affect bipartisanship or productivity in the next Congress. The Senate ultimately passed the NDAA 85-15, while less than half of the House’s Democrats supported the act. More Democrats attacked Johnson’s last-minute addition while saying they felt compelled to vote for the broader bill. “I’m hopeful Democrats will come around and join us with what we’ve always done with our military, which is support our professional, great men and women in uniform who do such an outstanding job, not a bunch of social policies that shouldn’t be in there,” Hoeven said. He also said he expects the embattled House speaker, who holds one of the smallest House majorities in history, to be reelected next year. ADVERTISEMENT Cramer called this year’s NDAA a loss for the political left but said he “wouldn’t read a whole lot” into the dissent, pointing out the bill had continued its decades-long streak of passing into law despite partisan gridlock. The 118th Congress, which ends Jan. 3, has been called one of the least productive Congresses in decades, and is by some counts the least productive in U.S. history.