Ramaswamy’s comments came amid ongoing debates about the H-1B visa program, which enables US companies to hire foreign workers for specialized roles. While supporting reform for the program, Ramaswamy argued that the US lacks the cultural focus to produce world-class engineers.

“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer),” he wrote. “That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.”

“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers. A culture that venerates Cory from ‘Boy Meets World,’ or Zach & Slater over Screech in ‘Saved by the Bell,’ or ‘Stefan’ over Steve Urkel in ‘Family Matters,’ will not produce the best engineers.”

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The 39-year-old former GOP candidate drew upon his own upbringing in his critique. A valedictorian at the prestigious St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ramaswamy is the son of Indian immigrants who came to the US on work visas.

To revitalize American innovation, Ramaswamy suggested cultural changes, including prioritizing science competitions over sleepovers and promoting films like Whiplash over sitcoms like Friends. He argued these shifts could be a “Sputnik moment” for the nation: “We’ve awaken from slumber before & we can do it again,” he said.

The backlash from conservative influencers and MAGA figures was swift

Rogan ‘DC Draino’ O’Handley criticized Ramaswamy for straying from his role in cutting government spending, tweeting, “How did DOGE go from ‘let’s cut wasteful government spending’ to ‘here’s why we need to import more immigrants’ almost overnight?”

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley also fired back, writing, “There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers.”

Others accused Ramaswamy of elitism and cultural disloyalty, including right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich, who pointed out, “Underlying your post is that we were all living in squalor until being rescued by H-1Bs.”

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However, Elon Musk, himself a former H-1B recipient, supported Ramaswamy’s stance. Musk argued for recruiting top talent globally to maintain competitive excellence. “The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” he said.