MAGA backlash as Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy defend visa program for skilled workers: Live updates
MAGA supporters clash with top Trump lieutenants as they laud the benefits of H-1B visa program for American companies
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Your support makes all the difference.Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump are bashing two of his top lieutenants, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy after they both defended a visa program for skilled workers.
Ramaswamy, who will lead the outside commission known as the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Musk, blamed a number of 1990s sitcoms for emphasizing the wrong values.
“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,” he wrote in a post on X.
“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” Musk wrote on Wednesday on X. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.”
The “number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” he later added. “Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win.”
That triggered pushback on social media from pro-Trump users.
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Elon Musk reveals he’s taking drug for weight loss in bizarre ‘Ozempic Santa’ post
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and President-elect Donald Trump’s“first buddy,” revealed on Christmas night that he was using the medication Mounjaro for weight loss while dubbing himself “Ozempic Santa” in a holiday-themed social media post.
The revelation also comes just a couple of weeks after he clashed with Trump’s designated Health and Human Services chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the widespread use and long-term benefits of GLP-1 inhibitors in battling obesity.
Posting to his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk shared an image of himself dressed as Santa Claus next to a Christmas tree alongside the caption “Ozempic Santa.” The post quickly went viral, gathering over 200,000 likes and 26 million views.
“Like Cocaine Bear, but Santa and Ozempic!” Musk added in a separate tweet.
Read more:
Elon Musk reveals he’s taking drug for weight loss in bizarre ‘Ozempic Santa’ post
The world’s richest man has clashed with incoming Health and Human Services chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the role weight-loss medications should play in making Americans healthier and thinner.
Musk says ‘hateful unrepentant racists’ must be removed from Republican Party as visa feud deepens
Elon Musk has declared that “hateful, unrepentant racists” should be removed from the Republican Party “root and stem” as the in-party feud over H-1B visas intensifies.
Conversations around H-1B visas have divided Donald Trump’s party, with his Department of Government Efficiency heads Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on one side and other allies like Laura Loomer on the other. The Space X founder escalated the feud on Friday night when he called for some “contemptible fools” in the GOP to be removed.
Read the full story.
Musk says ‘hateful unrepentant racists’ must be removed from GOP as visa feud deepens
‘They will absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed,’ Tesla and SpaceX tycoon warns
Watch: Shark Tank star says there’s ‘something great’ about Trump wanting to make Canada a state
Canadian cabinet ministers meet Trump team amid threat of tariffs and jibes about ‘51st state’
Two Canadian Cabinet ministers met with President-elect Donald Trump‘s nominee for commerce secretary at Mar-a-Lago on Friday as Canada tries to avoid sweeping tariffs when Trump takes office.
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, as well as North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department.
Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian products if Canada does not stem what he calls a flow of migrants and fentanyl into the United States — even though far fewer of each cross into the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has also threatened.
Read the full story.
Canadian cabinet ministers meet Trump team amid threat of tariffs
Finance minister Dominic LeBlanc and foreign minister Mélanie Joly made the trip to Mar-a-Lago as the incoming president continues to make ominous noises about relations between their two countries
Who is Ainsley Earhardt, the Fox News host tying the knot with Sean Hannity?
Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt announced their engagement after privately dating for several years, the latest Fox News couple to take their relationship to the next level.
In an official statement from the network, the two said they got engaged at their home church over Christmas with the blessing and support of their families – including their children from previous marriages.
Hannity, 62, and Earhardt, 48, have become well-known conservative commentators due to their longtime careers on Fox News. Hannity hosts his own primetime show, Hannity, while Earhardt co-hosts the morning show, Fox & Friends.
Read more:
Who is Ainsley Earhardt, the Fox News host engaged to Sean Hannity?
Hannity and Earhardt are the latest Fox News couple to take their relationship to the next level
Family detention, raids and ‘no price tag’: Trump’s mass deportation plan comes into focus
The man charged with implementing Donald Trump’s ambitions for what he calls the “largest deportation operation in American history” is previewing his agenda.
Trump and his “border czar” Tom Homan are likely to face a volley of lawsuits and legal obstacles from city and state officials. Homan, in turn, has threatened to prosecute them if they don’t “get the hell out of the way.”
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to arrest, detain and deport people living in the country without legal permission as part of his “day one” agenda. The president-elect promises to deploy federal, state and local law enforcement into immigrant communities he says are “poisoning the blood of the country,” relying on stories of violent crime to support a brutal crackdown that could impact millions of families.
Read more:
Family detention, raids and ‘no price tag’: Trump’s deportation plan comes into focus
Migrant families will be given impossible choices under Tom Homan’s agenda while Trump invokes wartime law and surges law enforcement across the country, Alex Woodward reports
US to send $1.25 billion in weapons to Ukraine, in push to get aid out before leaving office
The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on Jan. 20.
The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said.
The officials, who said they expect the announcement to be made on Monday, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.
Read more:
US to send $1.25 billion in weapons to Ukraine, in push to get aid out before leaving office
U.S. officials say the United States is expected to announce it will send another $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine
Trump claims Bill Gates asked to come to Mar-a-Lago in bizarre Truth Social post
As tensions flare between Elon Musk and Trump’s MAGA allies, President-elect Donald Trump posted what appeared to be a personal message to Musk on Truth Social, claiming that fellow billionaire Bill Gates asked to come to Mar-a-Lago.
In an early morning post on Friday, Trump suggested the Microsoft co-founder had asked to come to Mar-a-Lago. The 78-year-old Republican encouraged him to visit.
“Where are you? When are you coming to the ‘Center of the Universe,’ Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come, tonight. We miss you and x! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!!” Trump wrote. He signed it “DJT.”
Read the full story.
Trump claims Bill Gates asked to come to Mar-a-Lago in bizarre Truth Social post
President-elect’s cryptic message comes amid his ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk’s feud with other MAGA allies over H-1B visas
A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says
A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday.
Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon.
But Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks.
Read more:
A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says
A top White House official says a ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans
Trump asks Supreme Court to block TikTok ban as he considers ‘political resolution’
Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to block a federal law’s imminent ban on TikTok in the United States if the popular app’s Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it by next month’s deadline.
The nation’s highest court will hear arguments in the case on January 10.
Trump’s attorney D. John Sauer — who is also Trump’s nominee for U.S. solicitor general — said the president-elect doesn’t take any position on the challenge, but he is asking the justices to pause the law to allow his incoming administration “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”
Alex Woodward has the story.
Trump asks Supreme Court to block TikTok ban as he considers ‘political resolution’
The nation’s highest court will hear arguments over challenges to an imminent ban on January 10
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