MAGA Indians Went All In on Trump. Many Right-Wingers Can’t Stand Them

This story mentions slurs used against South Asians.

Vivek Ramaswamy was almost done taking questions. Speaking to students at Montana State University on October 7, at an event for the right-wing youth organization Turning Point USA, the former Republican presidential candidate and Ohio gubernatorial hopeful reiterated his conservative bonafides. The visit should have been a layup for Ramaswamy—and maybe it would have been, had he been white and Christian.

Instead, as the hour-and-a-half-long event was drawing to a close, Ramaswamy got grilled by two white students who felt his Hindu faith and culture put him at odds with the office he hopes to lead. “Christian voices should be the main voice of America. And I want to know basically why you seem to be, and I don't mean to be horribly offensive, but why you seem to be masquerading as a Christian?” one woman in the crowd asked.

It’s hardly the first time Ramaswamy has dealt with this type of rhetoric from his own party’s base. But even as South Asians in the US hold a disproportionate slice of jobs in tech and health care, as well as highly visible roles in the White House, they’re facing a noxious swell of racism online—with much of it seemingly coming from MAGA adherents.

“After the victory of Trump, a lot of people started looking for the next enemy,” says Anang Mittal, a creative strategist who’s worked for several Republicans. By his estimation, the newest enemy is Indian American people, including conservatives. South Asians with top roles in and around the Trump administration include White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai, FBI director Kash Patel, and White House AI adviser Sriram Krishnan.

Indian Americans are often described as a “model minority,” but the positive connotation has recently flipped into a threat. Groypers and even some Republican politicians embrace the idea of a “heritage American,” which supposes that the only true American is one descended from white Christians. To them, Indians are assimilating to steal well-paying jobs.

One of the main sources of resentment toward Indians in the US is the H-1B visa, a program US companies use to hire “skilled” foreign workers. In 2024, roughly 80,000 new H-1B petitions for Indian workers were approved, primarily in tech. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk complained about Indians to his followers: “Perhaps no form of legal immigration has so displaced American workers as those from India. Enough already. We’re full,” he wrote.

Sidharth, a conservative tech entrepreneur and Musk superfan, says right-wing messaging about H-1Bs is rife with misinformation. He voted for Trump in 2024, but now feels the vitriol is making many feel duped and fearful that the hateful rhetoric will become a mainstay for the party.