By Tony Bruce | Wednesday, April 09, 2025 | 4 min read
Donald Trump has picked a lot of fights in his time. But this one? Might be the dumbest yet. Because this time, he’s trading blows with a guy who actually builds things—rockets, cars, satellites, and oh yeah, wealth.
Elon Musk has officially declared war on Trump’s brain trust—or lack thereof—and it all started with a flamethrower aimed directly at Peter Navarro, Trump’s favorite economic hack. Navarro, fresh out of federal prison and somehow still pretending to be a serious voice on trade, went on CNBC and tried to downplay Tesla as just a “car assembler” glued together with Chinese parts.
Musk wasn’t having it. “Truly a moron,” he snapped, torching Navarro with the precision of a SpaceX missile. “Dumber than a sack of bricks,” he added—then punctuated it with a slur-laced insult that Musk seems to know is crude, but uses anyway because he doesn’t care anymore. And honestly? Neither does anyone else.
But it wasn’t just Musk. Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother and a Tesla board member, also joined in, saying Trump was “the most high-tax American president in generations,” further fueling the flames. It was a rare bipartisan hit against the tariffs—Republicans, too, are starting to admit they’ve backfired.
Musk didn’t stop there. He dropped receipts, reminding everyone that Tesla makes the most American-made cars in the country—more than Ford, GM, anyone. Tesla isn’t just vertically integrated—it is the supply chain. And Musk? He’s done playing footsie with MAGA economics.
This isn’t just a tech billionaire getting spicy online. It’s a full-blown revolt against Trump’s protectionist fantasyland. Musk isn’t subtle. He’s not tweeting memes. He’s showing up to meetings in Italy, calling for zero tariffs and open labor mobility while Trump’s still yelling “America First!” into a shrinking crowd of sycophants.
Over the weekend, Musk mocked Navarro’s Ivy League ego, calling out Harvard for handing out degrees to idiots. He’s been privately begging Trump to call off the economic suicide mission that is his tariff war—and publicly dragging anyone dumb enough to defend it.
Meanwhile, Trump’s strategy has detonated across the economy like a slow-motion explosion. American consumers are paying more. Supply chains are snarled. Jaguar pulled exports not because tariffs were too high—but because they might change. The instability is the tax. And nobody likes paying taxes to chaos.
Trump’s tariffs have already tanked global markets and are threatening to cripple Tesla’s delicate international supply chain. Musk’s message was simple: predictability is key. In a rare moment of consistency, Musk called for free trade and open borders—polar opposites to Trump’s isolationist agenda.
Even as Trump doubles down on tariffs, Musk’s message is loud and clear: This fight isn’t just about steel tariffs; it’s about sanity. And if Trump doesn’t back off, the Musk brothers aren’t just fighting him—they’re coming for the entire economic strategy that’s driving it. The more this battle drags on, the harder it’ll be for Trump to justify sticking with Navarro’s misguided war on free trade.
Even MrBeast—the candy-bar YouTuber—is moving production offshore. That’s how insane this has become. You know it’s bad when meme lords start offshoring.
And yet, Peter Navarro is still whispering in Trump’s ear like the ghost of policy failures past. The man went to jail for contempt of Congress and came back thinking he’s Alexander Hamilton. The only thing Navarro has managed to manufacture is embarrassment.
“Elon Musk called Navarro dumber than a sack of bricks,” one pundit said. “Then apologized to the bricks.”
But the real sign Trump’s slipping? Republicans are starting to tap out. Chuck Grassley and half a dozen GOP senators are now pushing to strip Trump of his tariff powers. Even they know this train is heading off a cliff.
“If this goes wrong, whose throat do I get to choke?” one Republican senator asked at a recent hearing. Answer: start with Navarro.
Markets have bled over $6 trillion under Trump’s trade war. Factories are nervous. Farmers are pissed. And Musk? He’s done being nice.
The day Trump finally fires Navarro, Wall Street will throw a party. The markets will surge. Republicans will pretend they never liked tariffs in the first place. And Trump will fumble for a new enemy to blame.
But Elon Musk won’t forget. And he sure as hell won’t forgive.
Tonight, Trump’s probably lying awake wondering: if Elon called his advisor a moron… what does that make the guy who actually took the advice??
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