Vivek Ramaswamy believes tech companies prefer foreign-born workers to Americans because our culture is too laid-back, too mediocre, and doesn’t encourage idiots like him enough.

The former Republican presidential candidate and future co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency weighed in on the debate over the future of Silicon Valley’s “American-born” workforce.

​​“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math Olympian or the athlete over the valedictorian will not produce the best engineers. “A culture that worships Cory from Boy Meets World or Zach & Slater over Screech in Saved by the Bell or Stefan over Steve Urkel in Family Matters is not going to produce the best engineers,” Ramaswamy says wrote in a long post on X.

“More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of ‘Friends.'” More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More science fairs on weekends, fewer cartoons on Saturday mornings. More books, less television. More creative, less “chilling”. More extracurricular activities, less “hanging out at the mall”… “normal” isn’t enough in a highly competitive global market for tech talent. And if we do that, we’ll get kicked in the ass by China.”

“A culture that once again values ​​performance over normality; Excellence instead of mediocrity; nerdiness instead of conformity; hard work instead of laziness. That is the work we are committed to doing, rather than wallowing in victimhood and simply wishing for (or legislating) alternative hiring practices,” he concluded.

Ramaswamy, an Indian-American, was immediately criticized by both the left and the right for this pathetic, presumptuous attitude.

“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” the former Republican presidential candidate said Nikke Haley replied. “You just have to look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should invest in and prioritize Americans, not foreign workers.”

“Vivek, you’ve accomplished a lot, but it’s okay to just say you don’t understand American culture,” one conservative responded, reminding him how racist much of the MAGA base is. “Neil Armstrong, greater than any Indian who ever lived and a product of American culture, chose the less academic Purdue over MIT because he liked the football team.”

“’We’, ‘our’, ‘we’. No. YOU are going back,” another MAGA supporter replied.

“An Ivy Leaguer’s attempt to sell ‘Math Olympiad instead of prom queen’ to the MAGA base amid intense educational polarization is wild.” said Harvard professor Matt Blackwell.

“Vivek’s denigration of sporting success (“a culture that celebrates the jock over the valedictorian”) will certainly resonate with his audience. “Everyone loves it when a guy from Yale talks about why American culture sucks,” he wrote Current Affairs Editor Nathan J. Robinson.

Ramaswamy’s views, which appear to be at odds with the MAGA majority, could potentially threaten his power as DOGE co-head. It remains to be seen how President-elect Donald Trump will respond to these talking points, if at all.