A comment made by Donald Trump about American workers during an interview with Laura Ingraham of Fox News has set off a rebellion among conservatives who worry he may have crippled their hopes for the 2026 midterm election while questioning what the president could have been thinking.
When asked about H-1B visas that allow foreigners to work in the U.S. in high-demand jobs, the president trashed American workers, telling the Fox personality they are needed because, “Well, I agree, but you also do have to bring in talent.”
Pressed about his answer with, “We don’t have talented people here?” Trump bluntly stated, “No.”
When the interview clip was posted to X, some of the president’s supporters hit the roof.
Republican Florida County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini wondered about Trump’s state of mind, and then worried that his handlers are to blame.
“This is insane—we are going to lose the mid-terms so badly. We’ve never seen an administration crash & burn in its first year so badly—for no reason other than to appease donors & special interests Trump has surrounded himself with the worst people,” he wrote on X.
Conservative author and Charlie Kirk enthusiast Kevin Bass went even further by accusing, “Trump hates America and Americans. This is the only explanation I can come up with for this pattern of behavior. He wants to import the third world to take Americans’ jobs,” before adding, “He hasn’t even gotten through his first year, and he’s spiraling. Unbelievable.”
“This has been a rough week for President Trump. Here he is defending H1B visas by saying we need them because not all Americans can make missiles. UNPOPULAR TAKE: Why would we want foreigners making OUR missiles?” former Newsmax producer Breanna Morello asked.
Conservative podcaster Matt Morse claimed, “I am one of the largest pro-Trump commentators in the nation. I get tens of millions of views every single month talking about Trump’s America First agenda. And right now, I’m absolutely fucking beyond PISSED OFF that tonight, as a justification for H-1B visas, Trump said that Americans don’t ‘have talent.’ Absolutely unreal.”
Logan Hall, a writer for The Blaze, a far-right website, was furious.
Linking to the clip, he raged, “I’m sorry but what the f— is this? American talent split the atom and went to the moon. American talent built everything the modern world takes for granted now. Give me a break. This is insanity.”
Moments later he added, “This is so inexcusable. Where is all this foreign ‘talent’ we keep hearing so much about? Where are all the doctors and engineers and astronauts we were promised? Oh yeah, sorry Americans but the crappy foreign 7/11 owners are better and more talented than you for some reason.”
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Trump: “US doesn’t have talented people to fill jobs domestically”
Trump, who slapped an extra $100,000 on the H-1B visa, now says there aren’t enough talented people in the U.S. to fill jobs
President Donald Trump has appeared to change his tune on the stringency on one of his immigration policies, speaking about the importance of H-1B visas for specialized labor only a couple months after imposing steep hurdles meant to reduce the number of those visas doled out by U.S. companies.
Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview released on Sunday that although he continues to believe the U.S. would not be able to increase wages for American employees if it brought in thousands of foreign workers, he also said the American workforce is lacking in key areas.
“You don’t have certain talents, and people have to learn,” he said. “You can’t just say a country is coming in, going to invest $10 billion to build a plant and take people off an unemployment line who haven’t worked in five years and they’re going to start making their missiles. It doesn’t work that way.”
In September, the White House imposed a $100,000 one-time fee on H1-B visas, meant for high-skilled workers, many of whom enter the tech sector. Experts, such as Y Combinator CEO Gary Tan, said the move would “kneecap” startups and other smaller businesses unable to brush off the steep fee. A 2020 National Bureau of Economic Research study found startups with higher H-1B visa rates were more likely to achieve an IPO or acquisition, as well as secure top funding and patents.
Nearly 400,000 H-1B visas were approved in fiscal 2024, double what was approved in fiscal 2020. Big names in tech, such as Elon Musk, have previously expressed fervent support for the visas (without the $100,000 fee) as attracting the best and brightest workers to U.S. companies.
At the time Trump signed the proclamation implementing the H-1B visa fee, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick argued doling out as many visas—which require a bachelor’s degree and have usually been distributed via lottery—would not be economically efficient for the U.S.
“If you’re going to train people, you’re going to train Americans.” Lutnick told reporters. “If you have a very sophisticated engineer and you want to bring them in…then you can pay $100,000 a year for your H-1B visa.”
Economists have warned the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown could lead to negative net migration, which would pummel the U.S. labor force and reduce American spending power, both of which could shrink U.S. GDP growth. A National Foundation for American Policy study last month found Trump’s immigration policies would slash the U.S. workforce by about 15.7 million and reduce GDP growth by one-third over the next decade.
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