Word War X
It all started when President-elect Donald Trump offered the obscure position of Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence to Indianborn Sriram Krishnan
Daily TribuneIt all started when President-elect Donald Trump offered the obscure position of Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence to Indianborn Sriram Krishnan
Yes, to folks who are Hollywood movie buffs, it carries a similar chime as the title of the hit zombie flick World War Z, if not of an early prequel to a potential World War Y.
But while those are fantasy films, Word War X is for real. Also, neither Hollywood A-lister Brad Pitt nor a cast of zombie-acting characters plays a central role in this movie-like spectacle.
Still, like the title of another similar-sounding thriller, War of the Worlds, in which another Hollywood A-lister, Tom Cruise, starred to fight an alien race from another planet, this real-life war of the words is also headlined by A-list protagonists from two vastly different worlds.
On one side, swooping down mightily from the Olympus-like silly-con valley of the tech universe while armed with laser-sharp X-words, are the incoming President’s ultra-wealthy advisers, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Mounting a fierce counterattack with deadly X-spears of their own are the incoming President’s loyal soldiers from the MAGA world, including former US congressman Matt Gaetz, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, and farright activist Laura Loomer, all MAGA loyalists and conservatives to the core. The apple of discord?
The H-1B visa for high-tech workers. It all started when President-elect Donald Trump offered the obscure position of Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence to Indian-born Sriram Krishnan, a pro-legal immigration entrepreneur, which generated a flood of criticism on the Musk-owned X social media platform.
According to Business Insider, someone had posted a question on X asking if anyone had voted “for this Indian to run America.”
MAGA far-right activist Loomer then fired the first shot by calling the Krishnan appointment “deeply disturbing” and saying that “it’s alarming to see the number of career leftists…being appointed…when they share views that are in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda.”
She also voiced her concern over the “replacement of American tech workers by Indian immigrants,” calling Musk a “stage 5 clinger.”
Unaccustomed to being verbally attacked and outgunned by ordinary mortals, the Zeus-like Musk and Ramaswamy immediately fired back, with Musk posting on X: “America rose to greatness over the past 150 years because it was a meritocracy more than anywhere else on Earth.”
He later added: “I will fight to my last drop of blood to ensure that it remains that land of freedom and opportunity.”
Ramaswamy’s own X salvo was equally provocative: “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math Olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”
Not to be outdone, the combative former US congressman Gaetz countered via X that the tech leaders should butt out because, “We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy.”
Former White House adviser Bannon then joined the fray, ferociously addressing Musk on his podcast: “Screw you, you clown,” and warning Musk to back down or, “We’re going to rip your face off.”
In further escalation of the conflict, Musk went berserk and lobbed X-plosives at his MAGA critics by using vulgar and offensive words and affirming a now-deleted response to an X post that implied right-wing American workers were too dumb to be employable. He also called the enemy “subtards.”
At this time, Word War X is still streaming…live.