WATCH: Popular Political Commentator Explains Why He Changed His Mind On H-1B Immigration Issue

Dilbert cartoon creator and popular political commentator Scott Adams explained that he changed his position on the number of H-1B visas issued to foreign workers, an issue that has intensely divided the Trump base in recent days.

Starting on Christmas Day, the Trump base has been intensely debating the H-1B visa issue after former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Tesla, X and SpaceX chief Elon Musk argued in favor of increasing legal immigration to the United States. The focus was quickly centered on the H-1b visas in particular, which are supposed to be given out to high-skilled immigrants to fill critical positions.

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The H-1B visa is separate from the O-1 visa, which is reserved for immigrants with “extraordinary” abilities.

Those critical of the current state of the H-1B visa program have pointed to the fact that companies have laid off American workers in favor of paying foreigners at lower rates. Internet sleuths also pointed out that companies are seeking H-1b visas for jobs that fall well below the threshold of the “high-skilled” worker, as companies have been caught seeking immigrants for cashier positions, assistant track coaches, and entry level accountants.

Dont know much about visa programs.

However it’s interesting that people are being brought in as Assistant Track and Field Coaches, Accountants, American Football Coaches and even as Data Analysts at stock brokers like Fidelity.

This isn’t exactly “jobs Americans wont do”. pic.twitter.com/enVzgCTVv4

— AoverK (@AoverK) December 27, 2024

As the debate raged, Adams initially found himself arguing in favor of the H-1B program. In a video statement released a few days later, however, Adams informed his 1.5 million X followers that he had changed his mind after studying the issue more closely and obtaining new information.

“Here’s what I think. I think that this of course is a political and economic issue, but it’s also an emotional one. And it’s very personal to a lot of people. It’s not personal to everybody, but to a lot of people, it’s really personal,” Adams said during a livestream. “And if you ignore the personal part, you’re not seeing the whole field.”

The then pointed to diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI) that have led to discriminatory hiring and admissions practices across corporate America, the federal government and higher education, noting that white men in particular have faced the most intense discrimination under these policies.

“They’re asking white American workers to accept DEI, which they are accepted right now in corporate America. DEI is pretty much everywhere, even though some companies are backing off. And we do think that the government will get rid of DEI in the government. But so far, I haven’t seen a direct statement that DEI would be made illegal in corporate America,” Adams continued.

“So here’s the thing that I think that I underestimated, and this is one of those ivory tower things. Because if you’re out of the cubicles for awhile as I am ,you can you can maybe forget how it felt. Like, I tell myself I could never forget that But sometimes you have to you know, you have to tap yourself on the shoulder and say ‘hey, hey, are you really remembering how this felt.'”

Continuing his analysis, Adams pointed to an astonishing analysis from Bloomberg which found that just six percent of corporate jobs within companies on the S&P 100 went to white applicants in the year following the Black Lives Matter riots, adding that the discrimination is “unacceptable.”

“What I took away from this that’s new; if you tell me to accept the DEI, but also bring in somebody from another country to take my job or lower my salary. That’s obscene. It’s obscene,” the popular political commentator continued. “Is it good for the economy? Or it could be if you did it right. It’s obscene. It’s an insult. It’s an insult… It’s an insult on top of the deepest insult you could ever have, which is racism.”

Adams concluded by stating agreeing that a nation goes beyond GDP numbers. “So I’m going to I’m going to say that if we don’t have confirmation that DEI is going to be absolutely eviscerated in corporate America, no. Just say no to H-1B. And I’m in favor of H-1B, but as a negotiating position,” he said.

“If any of you white males or people who like white males want to say, ‘you know what, it’s too far.’ It’s too far as long as DEI exists. Zero is the right number, and I will pay that price. GDP down two percent? Yup, I will pay that. I will pay that all day long.”

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