White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday laughed off Elon Musk calling fellow Trump adviser Peter Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks” for his hardline tariff strategy.
“Boys will be boys. And we will let their public sparring continue,” Leavitt said with a smile during the White House press briefing.
On X in recent days, Musk has publicly ripped Navarro, calling him “truly a moron” for supporting a United States trade war on the rest of the world. Before that, Navarro, in response to Musk criticizing him for having a degree in economics from Harvard University, mocked Musk as a “car assembler” who “wants the cheap foreign parts.” Musk then responded by saying Tesla is the “most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content,” and railed against Navarro’s intelligence.
Leavitt indicated the White House was not bothered by the feud.
“Is the administration, the president, at all concerned that this is maybe impacting the public’s understanding of these tariffs? It might be messing with the message on it?” a reporter asked Leavitt.
“No, look, these are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs,” the press secretary responded. “You guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history. And I think it also speaks to the president’s willingness to hear from all sides; that he has people at the highest levels of this government, in this White House, who have very diverse opinions on very diverse issues. But the president takes all opinions in mind and then he makes the best decision based on the best interests of the American public.”
