Editor’s note: This commentary is adapted in part from Rachel Campos-Duffy’s December 30, 2024 monologue on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

In the wake of President-elect Trump’s victory, the MAGA movement is grappling with the question: What is “America First”? Is it people or profits? Many insist that America is defined by its economic and military power. However, America is more than GDP growth, the stock market, or even the “idea” of self-government. It is a physical place with people who share a common history, traditions and culture.

At the heart of the “America First” issue is the online debate over expanding the H-1B visa program, which allows American employers to hire foreign workers and is vehemently defended by tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy and Musk are ambitious men, and their desire for America to win against our opponents in the global game seems sincere. But the question is: How do you define winning? And at whose expense should the game be played?

MUSK AND RAMASWAMY INITIATE MAGA WAR OVER PROFESSIONAL IMMIGRATION AND AMERICAN “MEDIUM CRITICALITY”

The H-1B policy was created to bring the “best and brightest” to America and address labor shortages in specialized fields. On paper it sounds classy. In practice, however, it has been severely abused and undermines American workers in technical jobs. No one can credibly claim that Americans don’t want to do this.

A 2021 U.S. Census Bureau study found that up to 72% of STEM graduates in America don’t even work in STEM-related fields. So is it really about labor shortages or is it about corporate profits at the expense of citizens who cannot compete with cheap foreign labor?

Who can forget what happened at Disney in 2014, when IT workers were laid off and forced to retrain their foreign-born replacements if they wanted to receive their severance checks? The Americans have nothing against bringing even more geniuses like Musk on board. But let’s not pretend that Disney’s foreign successors are all aspiring Einsteins. These workers face restrictive working conditions, are paid less, work longer hours and cannot leave their jobs without risking deportation. They also come with the hope of becoming citizens and bringing their families over through chain migration. It is a rigged game designed to create cheap labor and make it impossible for American citizens to compete.

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Ramaswamy argues that the problem is not mass immigration, but American culture itself. We need these foreign workers because our culture has “worshipped mediocrity” for decades. We celebrate the prom queen versus the math champion. The jock about the valedictorian.

It’s a practical theory, but it completely misses the point.

American culture is not the problem; It is their destruction that is at the heart of the problem. American culture gave the world electricity, airplanes, cars, Elvis, the Internet, Rocky Balboa and “Star Wars.” What we are witnessing now is not the failure of American culture, but rather its deliberate erosion – a demoralization campaign fueled by decades of mass immigration and an education system poisoned by cultural Marxism – a foreign and wholly un-American ideology.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are ambitious men, and their desire for America to win in the global game against our opponents seems sincere. But the question is: How do you define winning? And at whose expense should the game be played? (Getty Images)

Vilifying prom queens and promoting “America Last” visa policies will not restore our greatness. It distracts from the real problem: the dismantling of our national identity, the takeover of our schools by communist activists, and the devaluation of American workers.

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The Constitution tells us that the primary duty of our government is to “promote the general welfare” and “secure the blessings of liberty to the American people.” There was a time when America kept that promise. During his travels through America in the early 19th century, French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville observed that America is great because America is good.

Unfortunately, we replace goodness with ungodliness. Some of MAGA’s newest members are Silicon Valley atheists who envision a cold tech and corporate future for us — one that doesn’t recognize the humanity and vulnerability of our own citizens.

Secularism, transhumanism and AI will never satisfy the soul. America needs God, family, love and a return to real, not virtual, relationships. And that includes the relationship between citizens and their government – a government that truly cares about them and makes them a priority.

The answer to our suffering is not to import millions of people from around the world. The answer lies in rediscovering who we are. Ben Franklin, the Wright Brothers, Sunday church, family dinners, rodeos, skyscrapers, rock and roll, Friday night lights and homecoming queens. The answer is to repair what is intentionally broken in our culture and institutions.

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America is not a sports team and winning on the stock market is not the epitome of success for America. “America First” is not a slogan; it is a guiding principle.

MAGA is about honoring our history and our Christian values. It’s about prioritizing our people, our families and our American way of life.

Evita Duffy-Alfonso is the host of “Bongino Report Early Edition with Evita.”

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