Nikki Haley wasn’t having it with Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday after her former GOP presidential primary opponent argued that top tech companies often hire foreign-born engineers because American culture has “venerated mediocrity over excellence.”

Vivek Ramaswamy lamented the state of American culture in a message outlining a pathway to creating a “new golden era” for the United States. The former Republican presidential candidate warned on Thursday that “our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.

Vivek Ramaswamy thinks that tech companies are choosing foreign-born workers over American ones because our culture is too chill, too mediocre, and doesn’t uplift dorks like him enough.

Ramaswamy, who is a first-generation Indian-American, was accused in 2023 of attempting to use a racist dogwhistle by criticizing Haley using her maiden name, Nimarata Nikki Randhawa, and suggesting she was being untruthful about her own Indian family background.

Nikki Haley revived her feud with Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday, rebuking him for a rant in which he decried American culture.