Caroline Leavitt on the Musk-Navarro Feud: “Boys Will Be Boys”
The White House found itself pulled into a Silicon Valley vs. Beltway brawl this week as Elon Musk and Peter Navarro threw punches across social media and cable news. The topic? Trade policy, electric vehicles, and who’s got the bigger…economic vision. Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt, unfazed by the testosterone-fueled spectacle, offered a breezy response: “Boys will be boys.”
With that, the feud was officially government-sanctioned drama.
Where It All Started
It began innocently enough—at least by Musk standards. Over the weekend, a user on X (formerly Twitter) praised Navarro’s trade credentials. Musk couldn’t resist. He fired back, mocking Navarro’s Harvard Ph.D. and declaring that he “ain’t built s–t.” According to Musk, having a degree doesn’t mean you’re smart, especially when you’re “just a theorist.”
Navarro took the bait. Appearing on CNBC, he dismissed Musk as “a car assembler,” not a real manufacturer. He argued Tesla just bolts together foreign-made parts and rides the coattails of global supply chains.
That was all Musk needed.
Musk Fires the Big Guns
Musk responded with all the subtlety of a SpaceX rocket launch.
“Navarro is truly a moron,” Musk posted, before doubling down with the charming insult that Navarro was “dumber than a sack of bricks.” He even added a jab about “Ron Vara”—a fictional economist Navarro once cited in his books. Musk helpfully reminded the internet that Ron Vara is just “Navarro” scrambled, an Easter egg in the world of trade policy trolling.
But Musk didn’t stop there. He called Navarro “Peter Retarrdo,” in what was quickly criticized as an offensive and childish insult. Still, Musk insisted Tesla builds the most American-made cars and is the most vertically integrated automaker in the U.S. His argument: Navarro’s claims weren’t just wrong—they were laughably ignorant.
Navarro Defends His Turf
Navarro, for his part, tried to sound statesmanlike even as he kept swinging. In his TV appearances, he said he wasn’t against Musk, just against Musk’s vision of free trade. Navarro emphasized he wants tires made in Akron, transmissions in Indianapolis, engines in Flint—essentially, every bolt and bracket made in the U.S.A.
“With Elon,” Navarro said, “he wants cheap foreign parts and we understand that. But we want them home for our national security.” Then, with the tone of a man trying to calm a frat house, he added, “Everything’s good with Elon.”
Sure, Pete. Tell that to your mentions.
Enter the White House Referee
Into this circus walked Karoline Leavitt, who, instead of throwing water on the fire, lit another match. When asked about the Musk-Navarro brawl during a press briefing, she shrugged.
“Boys will be boys,” she said, smiling. She praised the administration’s transparency and said they were fine with the public feud. “You guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history,” she added, in case anyone was wondering if sarcasm had entered the room.
Leavitt also framed the feud as a positive, proof that the president listens to different views. “He takes all opinions in mind and makes the best decision based on the best interest of the American public,” she said, diplomatically dodging the flaming tweets being lobbed from either side.
Tariffs, Egos, and Billion-Dollar Meltdowns
This isn’t just about egos, though there’s plenty of that. At the heart of the argument is Trump’s new wave of tariffs, designed by Navarro and loathed by Musk. The billionaire lost nearly $18 billion in Tesla stock value after markets reacted to Trump’s announcement. Musk and his brother Kimbal both slammed the tariffs, calling them a permanent tax on American consumers.
Kimbal even said Trump is shaping up to be “the most high-tax American president in generations.” So much for subtlety running in the family.
What Comes Next?
Trump himself has stayed quiet on the feud—for now. But the clash between two of his highest-profile advisers signals a deeper division over what kind of economy Trump 2.0 is building.
Will it be Navarro’s America-first factory revival? Or Musk’s high-tech, global supply chain dream?
One thing’s clear: as long as the back-and-forth keeps trending, the White House is content to let the boys play rough.
I think Elon is wrong to call the Congressional contempt convicted Navarro dumb as a sack of bricks and appreciate the follow-up apology to bricks.
I like one brick shy of a wall, one egg short of a dozen, those types.
And he’s right. Navarro is smart, Harvard PhD, who has taught his entire life focusing on his fringe economic theory that no one subscribes to, until now. I mean he has been doing this for decades and it took this long to find a taker.
Given where the buck stops, I guess we know what Musk really thinks about his partner in crime.
My guess is he wants to complete his task, declare “mission accomplished,” and get the hell outta Dodge before the Trump hits the fan.
I spell my name: thank the Lord for fixed assets and the will to do so.
I’m thinking either you understand the Trump-Musk tariff strategy or you don’t, and we are hearing a lot of people shouting that the sky is falling. It is easy to lose respect for people that should see that the strategy is not tariffs longterm, but to negotiate tariffs away. The globalists of the past were so anxious to do trade that they accepted bad deals, utterly lopsided. Not sure how people cannot see how this is designed to level this out.
Joe, The people who don’t understand the tariff strategy are the people advising trump, who developed this formula for placing tariffs on the countries of the world (we all know that trump couldn’t come up with any kind of formula-he’s not that smart). However, evaluating tariffs by only looking at goods and ignoring services to determine potential tariffs is more that stupid-it is shooting yourself in the foot (but trump is good at that). All of this fighting worldwide is tarnishing our image, and is going to hurt those sectors that rely on goodwill abroad-the travel industry. Of course, Russians will be happy to travel here-no tariffs imposed on them…🧐
Trump says it’s not a tax.
What does Joe call extra money on top of product price that the gubermint collects from consumers and the deposits in the gubermint’s General Fund along with our income taxes?
Blink.
Ooops, we make mistakes we fix em.
Musk 1
Navarro 0
Duck
Never mind.
Best tariffs ever
I will take the day off, taxes, plus have to figure out how to spend yesterday’s profit. If ONLY I had the heads up many in the administration had, an hour or two and I could have doubled on a really good one-day profit.
Chaos will be our epitaph. The amount of unnecessary pain caused by one man twas amazing. People were hurt, companies were hurt, the market rebounded but they were not fixed. And the roller coaster continues today.
Sigh.