Disagreements within the White House over President Donald Trump’s dramatic global tariffs spilled over to social media Tuesday morning, as Elon Musk attacked Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro with a series of angry tweets and childish name-calling.
Musk made unsuccessful appeals to Trump to reverse the new tariffs, the Washington Post reported on Monday, as the stock market cratered. He also promoted the idea of “creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America” in an interview over the weekend.
Navarro, a staunch protectionist, believes Musk is just trying to safeguard his personal business interests at Tesla.
“He sells cars,” Navarro said of Musk in a Fox News interview on Sunday, alleging that much of Tesla’s supply chain comes from abroad. “That’s what he does.”
Navarro doubled down on Monday in another interview on CNBC, calling Musk a “car assembler” rather than a “car manufacturer.”
The second interview appeared to set off Musk, who went on a name-calling tirade against Navarro on X.
“Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,” Musk began.
“Tesla has the most American-made cars,” he added, tagging the @IfindRetards X account, which Musk often loops in on posts that displease him. “Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”
Musk then “corrected” a tweet defending him from MAGA influencer Mario Nawfal.
“*Peter Retarrdo,” the billionaire chimed in.
Democrats immediately seized on the name-calling to criticize Trump’s tariff policies.
“He called him a moron,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a Senate floor speech this afternoon. “Their plan is so crazy, so controversial, that this administration cannot get its act together with them calling names.”
In fairness to Navarro, the fallout from Trump’s tariffs and the Department of Government Efficiency’s controversial efforts to slash government spending have hit Musk’s wallet.
Tesla’s share price has plummeted more than 40% since the beginning of the year, helping reduce Musk’s net worth to a measly $300 billion.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly said that the administration wasn’t concerned about the spat.
“Whatever,” she said, according to CNBC reporter Eamon Javors. “We are the most transparent administration in history, expressing our disagreements in public.”
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