Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek greets supporters during a watch party at the Spruce St. Sporting sports bar after winning the party’s nomination for Governor on May 5, 2026, in Columbus.
| Photo Credit: AP

Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Washington:

Indian-origin entrepreneur and Republican leader Vivek Ramaswamy, said he had a “great meeting” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Blaire House, and it was a “pleasure and honour” to welcome the PM in the US.

He also affirmed hope that PM Modi has a “wonderful visit” to the United States.

“It was a pleasure and honour to welcome Prime Minister Modi here. Hope he has a wonderful visit and it was a great meeting,” Vivek Ramaswamy told ANI, after his bilateral meeting with PM Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Modi discussed India-US ties, innovation, biotechnology, with Ramaswamy.

“PM@narendramodimet with@VivekGRamaswamyat Blaire House today.They had insightful discussions on India-U.S. ties, innovation, biotechnology, and the role of entrepreneurship in shaping the future,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X.

PM @narendramodi met with @VivekGRamaswamy at Blaire House today.

They had insightful discussions on India-U.S. ties, innovation, biotechnology, and the role of entrepreneurship in shaping the future.

pic.twitter.com/iBjrLWktlk

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) February 13, 2025

Mr Ramaswamy, had earlier been in the race for the White House but eventually pulled out. The Indian-origin entreprenuer who gained attention for his outspoken debate performances, had ended his presidential bid and threw his support behind Donald Trump whom he had earlier dubbed the “best president of 21st century”.

He was also appointed to co-head the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) along with Elon Musk, but later stepped down from the role, reportedly due to differences with the Tesla CEO.

PM Modi, who arrived in the US on Wednesday (local time), is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House later in the day.

This is PM Modi’s first visit to the United States after Donald Trump assumed office for the second term. India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, and other officials PM Modi at the airport.

Upon arrival in the US, PM Modi said that he looked forward to meeting with the US President and building upon the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

In his departure statement, ahead of his US visit PM Modi noted that the visit will be an opportunity to build on the successes of collaboration in his first term and develop an agenda to further elevate and deepen the partnership between the two nations.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington DC:

US President-elect Trump has set up the stage for a fiery “day one” in the Oval Office, with the promise of pardoning January 6 Capitol riot prisoners, sealing America’s southern border and rolling back protections for transgender students. To ensure the swift implementation of his radical changes, the incoming president has nominated individuals who are not only loyal to him, but bring their own ideas about how to enact the Republican’s agenda. 

We look at some of Donald Trump’s most notable pledges and his cabinet picks entrusted to deliver those promises. 

1- Mass Deportation Of Undocumented Migrants: One of the biggest pledges of Trump’s campaign was the largest mass deportations of undocumented migrants in US history. He also promised to complete the construction of the wall at the border with Mexico that was started during his first term as US president. 

To oversee his immigration promises, Trump has picked border hardliners Kristi Noem as the Homeland Security Secretary and Tom Homan as his Border tsar.

A four-term congresswoman who became governor of South Dakota in 2018, Noem is a vocal critic of President Joe Biden’s border policies. She was the first governor to send members of her state’s national guard to Texas to help with border enforcement. 

On the other hand, Homan is a former police officer who was acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump’s first term. He was an early advocate of separating children from their parents or caregivers who crossed the border without documentation, which became one of Trump’s more controversial immigration policies during his first presidential term.

2- Moves On Economy, Tax And Tariffs: Trump’s campaign had promised to “end inflation” by imposing new tariffs of at least 10 per cent on most foreign goods. He also pledged sweeping tax cuts. 

To ensure the implementation of his economic agenda, Trump nominated Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary and Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.

Lutnick was the co-chair of Trump’s transition team and has backed the President-elect’s economic plans, including wide-ranging tariffs. He has also advocated for deregulation of cryptocurrencies and the elimination of income tax.

Meanwhile, Bessent is a Wall Street financier who once worked for liberal billionaire George Soros. He supports Trump’s calls for new tariffs on imports, and like Lutnick, has suggested that the US government sees tariffs primarily as a negotiating tool and not as a permanent source of US revenue.

3- Cost Cuts And Dismantle Bureaucracy: Donald Trump has pledged to restructure federal agencies and ‘dismantle’ bureaucracy by announcing a new entity called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He picked billionaire executive Elon Musk and tech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the entity.

Though not a federal department, Trump said DOGE will “provide advice and guidance” from outside the executive branch and work closely with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to propose cuts. 

As part of his new role, Musk has suggested a possible $2tn in spending cuts and vowed to send “shockwaves” through the government. Ramaswamy has also backed the idea of dramatically shrinking the size of the federal government, streamlining agencies and cutting costs.

4- Abolish Climate Regulations: Trump has promised to cut regulations, especially in a way that helps the American car industry. He pledged to increase production of US fossil fuels on day one in favour of renewable energy sources such as wind power.

Much of this work will be overseen by North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s new energy czar and pick for Interior Secretary, along with Chris Wright, a Colorado-based natural gas fracking CEO and Trump’s pick for Energy Secretary. 

Both are staunch fossil fuel advocates, but each has also worked with clean energy.

5-Foreign Policy Change With Ending Russia-Ukraine War And China Tariffs: During his election campaign, Trump criticised the tens of billions of dollars spent by the US administration on supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. He pledged to end the conflict “within 24 hours” through a negotiated deal. He also pledged to levy a 60 per cent tariff on all goods from China. 

To oversee his foreign policy and national security, Trump has picked Marco Rubio and Secretary of State, Michael Waltz as National security advisers and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.

Rubio, who represented Florida since 2011, is part of the Senate intelligence and foreign relations committees and is known for his hard-line positions on Iran and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as China.

Waltz too, like Rubio, has talked tough on China. As chair of a House subcommittee, he argued that the US should prepare more for conflict in the Pacific.

A military veteran who served with a medical unit in Iraq, Gabbard has routinely opposed American foreign policy. A former Democrat, she blamed NATO for the Russia-Ukraine war and echoed a Kremlin claim that there were US-funded biolabs in Ukraine. As Trump’s intel tsar, her role will be critical for US-backed wars.

6-Affordable Care Act Repeal: Donald Trump aimed to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and propose its replacement with a system that would lower premiums and expand health savings accounts. 

Trump picked a longtime lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health and Human Services. Despite having no medical qualifications, he would have broad remit over US federal health agencies – including those that oversee approval of vaccines, whose use he wants to review.

Days after vowing to “go to war” to defend the H-1B visas, tech billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday said the system, which is used to bring skilled foreign workers to the US, is “broken” and needs a “major reform”.

Mr Musk and Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have recently clashed with supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump over the issue of immigration.

Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy, who are set to be part of the incoming Trump administration, have backed the H-1B visa program.

Posting on X, the social media site he owns, Mr Musk, who himself migrated from South Africa on an H-1B, said he has “been very clear” that the program is “broken” and “needs major reform”.

He was responding to a user who said the US needs to be a destination for the “world’s most elite talent”, but the H-1B program “isn’t the way to do that”.

Mr Musk said it can be “easily fixed” by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H-1B, making it “materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically”.

Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.

I’ve been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2024

Last week, Mr Musk said bringing elite engineering talent from abroad was “essential for America to keep winning.”

Mr Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, also echoed Mr Musk’s sentiments. He argued that the US culture has long celebrated “mediocrity over excellence”.

“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ… will not produce the best engineers,” he posted on X.

Debate Over H-1B Visas

The debate over H-1B visas began after Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer, criticised Donald Trump’s selection of Indian-American entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration.

Ms Loomer, along with far-right figures like Ann Coulter and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, accused Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy of undermining American workers.

One viral post on X accused Mr Krishnan as an “India First” operative whose goal was to “replace American workers.”

“Looking forward to the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech,” Ms Loomer, a MAGA figure known for her conspiracy theories, said.

“We have to protect President Trump from the technocrats,” she said.

Mr Musk fired back at his critics and warned of a “MAGA civil war.”

He also swore at one critic, saying, “I will go to war on this issue.”

Trump Backs Musk In H-1B Visa Debate

Donald Trump has sided with Elon Musk in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters.

Trump, who moved to limit the visas’ use during his first presidency, told The New York Post on Saturday he was likewise in favour of the visa program.

“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” he was quoted as saying.

Washington, United States:

Donald Trump weighed in Saturday in a bitter debate dividing his traditional supporters and tech barrons like Elon Musk, saying that he backs a special visa program that helps highly skilled workers enter the country.

“I’ve always liked the (H1-B) visas, I have always been in favor of the visas, that’s why we have them” at Trump-owned facilities, the president-elect told the New York Post in his first public comments on the matter since it flared up this week.

An angry back-and-forth, largely between Silicon Valley’s Musk and traditional anti-immigration Trump backers, has erupted in fiery fashion, with Musk even vowing to “go to war” over the issue.

Trump’s insistent calls for sharp curbs on immigration were central to his election victory in November over President Joe Biden. He has vowed to deport all undocumented immigrants and limit legal immigration.

But tech entrepreneurs like Tesla’s Musk — as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, who with Musk is to co-chair a government cost-cutting panel under Trump — say the United States produces too few highly skilled graduates, and they fervently champion the H1-B program.  

Musk, who himself migrated from South Africa on an H1-B, posted Thursday on his X platform that luring elite engineering talent from abroad was “essential for America to keep winning.”

Adding acrimony to the debate was a post from Ramaswamy, the son of immigrants from India, who deplored an “American culture” that he said venerates mediocrity, adding that the United States risks having “our asses handed to us by China.”

That angered several prominent conservatives who were backing Trump long before Musk noisily joined their cause this year, going on to pump more than $250 million into the Republican’s campaign.

“Looking forward to the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech,” said Laura Loomer, a far-right MAGA figure known for her conspiracy theories, who often flew with Trump on his campaign plane.

“We have to protect President Trump from the technocrats.” 

She and others said Trump should be promoting American workers and further limiting immigration.

‘MAGA civil war’

Musk, who had already infuriated some Republicans after leading an online campaign that helped tank a bipartisan budget deal last week, fired back at his critics.

Posting on X, the social media site he owns, he warned of a “MAGA civil war.” 

Musk bluntly swore at one critic, saying, “I will go to war on this issue.”

That, in turn, drew a volley from Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who wrote on the Gettr platform that the H1-B program brings in migrants who are essentially “indentured servants” working for less than American citizens would.

In a striking jab at Trump’s close friend Musk, Bannon called the Tesla CEO a “toddler.”

Some of Trump’s original backers say they fear he is falling under the sway of big donors from the tech world like Musk and drifting away from his campaign promises. 

It was not immediately clear whether Trump’s remarks might soothe the intraparty strife, which has exposed just how contentious changing the immigration system might be once he takes office in January.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Vivek Ramaswamy, who is all set to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside Elon Musk in the next Donald Trump administration, has weighed in on hiring trends across the tech sector in the US. The former Republican presidential candidate’s comment came amid an intense discussion on Indian immigrants moving to the US and making it big.

Asking others to confront the truth if they were “really serious about fixing the problem,” Ramaswamy noted that the American culture had “venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.”

“The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture,” Ramaswamy said in a lengthy post on X.

The post came as a surprise, with several Trump supporters throwing their weight behind the “America First” banner.

Ramaswamy, a first-generation US citizen whose parents immigrated from India, added that 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 then gave examples of a few characters in Boy Meets World, Saved by the Bell and Family Matters, claiming he knew multiple sets of immigrant parents in the 1990s, who actively limited their children from TV shows that “promoted mediocrity”. He added that “their kids went on to become wildly successful STEM graduates.”

“More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of ‘Friends’. More math tutoring, and fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less ‘chillin.’ More extracurriculars, less ‘hanging out at the mall,'” he added.

“Most normal American parents look skeptically at ‘those kinds of parents.’ More normal American kids view such ‘those kinds of kids’ with scorn. If you grow up aspiring normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve.”

Seeking a “brutally honest” answer, Ramaswamy asked people to close eyes and visualise one model versus the other. 

“‘Normalcy’ doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our a***s handed to us by China,” he said.

In the end, Ramaswamy called it “our Sputnik moment,” claiming that “Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up.” 

He then called for a culture that prioritises “achievement over normalcy, excellence over mediocrity, nerdiness over conformity, hard work over laziness.”

“That’s the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood & just wishing (or legislating) alternative hiring practices into existence. I’m confident we can do it,” he concluded.

The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if…

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 26, 2024

Earlier, Canadian musician Grimes, the former partner of Elon Musk, also addressed the anti-India rhetoric on social media and said, “Suddenly concocting anti-Indian energy out of nowhere is embarrassing y’all. Also, they were clear they planned to do this.”

Noting her step-father was an Indian, she added, “I had a fire childhood in a half-Indian household.  Indian culture jives very well with Western culture.”

Washington:

Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer and outspoken Donald Trump supporter, has launched a scathing attack on Elon Musk. Her grievances seem to stem from Musk’s advocacy for increased immigration in the US tech sector.

Loomer took to X to denounce Musk’s influence on Trump and label his “Department of Government Efficiency” project with Vivek Ramaswamy as a “vanity project”.

Loomer’s tirade didn’t stop there. She predicted a falling out between Musk and Trump soon. Musk dismissed Loomer as a troll, but she continued her attacks, resorting to racist and homophobic slurs. She accused Musk of being a “pawn of China” and claimed he had “bought his way into MAGA”.

“Remember when you voted for Biden and propped up @GovRonDeSantis and you said Trump was too old? We all know you only donated your money so you could influence immigration policy and protect your buddy Xi JinPing,” she said in an X post, further adding, “He’s a stage 5 clinger who over stayed his welcome at Mar a Lago in an effort to become Trump’s side piece and be the point man for all of his accomplices in big Tech to slither into Mar a Lago.”

Loomer’s opposition to Musk appears to be driven by her anti-immigration views, which are rooted in her racist and Islamophobic beliefs. Her attacks on Musk also targeted his perceived ties to China and immigrants from India.

“The tech billionaires don’t get to just walk inside Mar a Lago and stroke their massive checkbooks and rewrite our immigration policy so they can have unlimited slave laborers from India and China who never assimilated,” she wrote on the platform. “I don’t care about being called “racist” by people who don’t have the best interest of the American worker in mind.”

Interestingly, Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk’s collaborator on the government efficiency project, also faced backlash from MAGA supporters for his comments criticising American culture. Ramaswamy’s remarks sparked racist attacks from the far right, further alienating him from Trump loyalists.

The feud between Loomer, Musk, and Ramaswamy highlights the growing tensions within the MAGA movement. As Musk and Ramaswamy navigate the complexities of Trumpworld, they may soon find themselves at odds with the former president himself.
 

Imagine the fear of becoming a personal target of the richest man in the world – and his followers. That’s what federal government employees are feeling after Elon Musk publicised their names.

As the co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has suggested mass-firings as he is publicly identifying “fake jobs” and associated federal employees on X.

Last week Elon Musk reposted the names and titles of employees holding climate-related government positions on X. These posts are made from an account with the handle Fentasyl and the name “Datahazard,”. They have received quite some negative attention with one woman even deleting her social media accounts.

According to CNN, current federal employees are apprehensive about being personal targets.

“These tactics are aimed at sowing terror and fear at federal employees. It’s intended to make them fearful that they will become afraid to speak up,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. 

But this is Musk’s habitual way of operating where he singles out individuals who stand in his way. 

“It’s his way of intimidating people to either quit or also send a signal to all the other agencies that ‘you’re next’,” said Mary “Missy” Cummings who unintentionally provoked Musk by criticising Tesla when she was at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Cummings said that she received death threats and a slew of attacks and had to relocate temporarily before moving houses. “He intended for them, for people just like this, to be intimidated and just go ahead and quit so he didn’t have to fire them. So his plan, to some extent, is working,” she said.

One of Musk’s posts on X reads, “I don’t think the US taxpayers should pay for the employment of a ‘Director of Climate Diversification (she/her)’ at the US International Development Finance Corporation,” which he posted alongside a screenshot of the employee’s name and location.

Climate change is a scam that created many useless jobs such as this.

— DodgeToTheMoon! (@DarkCreator50) November 19, 2024

Nancy Pelosi’s niece should not be paid $181,648.00 by the US Taxpayer to be the “Climate Advisor” at HUD. pic.twitter.com/3jRNYcYpQP

— ~~datahazard~~ (@fentasyl) November 19, 2024

Vivek Ramaswamy has said that, “Most federal employees, like most human beings, are fundamentally good people and deserve to be treated with respect, but the real problem is the bureaucracy”, although he did not comment on employees being singled-out by Musk.
 

US President-elect Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk will lead the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ – a position Trump hinted at during his campaign trail. Musk will head the department alongside Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” Trump said in a statement.

“I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans,” he added.

According to Trump, they will drive out the “massive waste and fraud” from the government.

Donald Trump won the presidential elections last week, defeating Democratic rival Kamala Harris by 69 electoral votes.

During his victory speech, Trump praised Musk and described him as an “amazing and super genius guy”. He also mentioned that the billionaire spent two weeks in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania campaigning with him.

“We have a new star, a star is born: Elon. He’s an amazing guy. We were sitting together tonight. You know, he spent two weeks in Philadelphia, in different parts of Pennsylvania, campaigning,” Trump told his supporters.

Musk, who has been a staunch supporter of Trump, was a key part of the Republican’s Presidential campaign. The Tesla CEO donated over 100 million dollars to Trump’s re-election battle and campaigned aggressively using his social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

On November 9, Trump made it even more evident that Musk would be a part of his administration after he reportedly asked him to join a call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to a Ukrainian official, Zelensky thanked Musk for the Starlinks and they talked briefly, however, the main conversation was with Trump, reported news agency AFP.