The Week in Musk: “Truly a Moron,” – Judd Legum

By Caleb Ecarma, Apr 11, 2025

In public outbursts and private pleas, Elon Musk has spent the past week opposing Donald Trump’s protectionist policies. Over the weekend, Musk, a top Trump adviser and head of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, privately urged the president to drop the sweeping tariffs he had implemented against top U.S. trading partners, according to the Washington Post.

Musk has also used X, his social media platform, to insult White House senior trade counselor Peter Navarro. “Truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” are two of the colorful ways Musk described Navarro online. Those slights came after Navarro, in a CNBC interview, said the Tesla chief is “not a car manufacturer, he’s a car assembler” who wants “cheap foreign parts.” The White House has avoided picking a side. “Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

It’s unclear what effect Musk’s appeals had on Trump. But on Wednesday afternoon, the president opted to place a 90-day pause on the smothering “reciprocal” tariffs — with the exception of Chinese imports, which will now be subject to a 145% tariff.

For what it’s worth, Musk seems to think that he won the fight with Navarro. On Wednesday afternoon, as Tesla’s share price recovered some of its post-tariff losses, he shared a winking emoji on X. Included in the post was a meme depicting Musk as a Pepe the Frog-themed Captain America.

Source Links: https://www.muskwatch.com/p/the-week-in-musk-truly-a-moron