Republican strategist Scott Jennings explained that Vivek Ramaswamy’s comments on immigration shed light on his performance in the Iowa caucuses. Ramaswamy and Elon Musk faced backlash on social media over their remarks about the H-1B visa program, which allows skilled workers into the U.S.
Jennings pointed out that Ramaswamy upset many “MAGA people” with his comments. He said, “Somebody got stuffed in a locker, I’m not going to say who,” during his appearance on CNN’s “NewsNight” with Abby Phillip.
He added, “Look, I think there’s a way to solve this and talk about this that doesn’t denigrate all of American culture.” Jennings explained, “I’m now understanding more and more how he got 100 votes in Iowa or whatever it was he got during the Iowa Caucus.”
Ramaswamy had posted on X that American culture celebrates mediocrity, making U.S. workers less competitive in technical fields. He argued that the culture favors “the prom queen over the math olympiad champ” and “the jock over the valedictorian.”
Jennings also discussed Musk’s clarification on the issue. He said, “Elon…further explained his position later and was talking about saying, ‘I want to bring in the top 0.1% of engineering talent from around the world.’” He compared it to adding star athletes to a team: “It’s like bringing in Jokic or a Wembanyama to help your whole team.”
Trump named Musk and Ramaswamy as co-chairs of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Nov. 12. Jennings emphasized, “We can bring in the absolute top talent from around the world, and at the same time not insult the rest of the United States of America.”
He continued, “Also lift up the American students who have the talent and who have the interest and put them in the right educational opportunities.” But, he said, “What he did today was to overtalk it.”
Jennings concluded, “A lot of MAGA people are not happy. A lot of Republicans are not happy. And this is why Donald Trump is in the Oval Office.”