Backstabbing was rampant in President Trump's first White House. In Trump 2.0, it's front-stabbing:
Why it matters: The Navarro-Musk spat over Trump's tariffs — Navarro is their biggest cheerleader, Musk thinks they're too much — would have embarrassed any other administration, and likely resulted in some sort of mea culpa or reconciliation.
- But in Trump's White House, public feuding by his team of rivals reflects the smashmouth, unapologetic style that's part of its policymaking process.
As Trump's controversial tariffs, layoffs, budget cuts and power grabs rip through American society, he and his top aides don't seem to mind the images of a couple of advisers airing their policy differences in very personal terms.
- "The fact is, we like it," a senior White House adviser said with a chuckle.
- "We will let their public sparring continue," Leavitt said, calling it a sign of a transparent administration.
Reality check: The Navarro-Musk feud aside, Trump's advisers may squabble with one another but generally are aligned with him.
- However, the tariff policy has caused dramatic volatility in the stock market, led to widespread fears of a recession, and increased doubts about whether Trump knows what he's doing.
- The mixed messaging by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hasn't helped.
The backstory: The Navarro-Musk feud began Saturday, when Musk, who's been critical of the scope of Trump's tariffs, took to his X platform to mock Navarro for his Harvard University Ph.D., calling it a "bad thing, not a good thing." (Musk's post was deleted later.)
- Navarro hit back the next day, telling Fox News: "Elon sells cars. He's simply protecting his own interests."
- On Monday, Navarro called Musk a "car assembler" who imports parts for his Tesla vehicles.
- "The difference is, in our thinking and Elon's ..., is that we want the tires made in Akron. We want the transmissions made in Indianapolis. We want the engines made in Flint and Saginaw. And we want the cars manufactured here," Navarro said in a CNBC interview.
- Musk hit back on Tuesday, saying Tesla "has the most American-made cars" and calling Navarro "dumber than a sack of bricks." He also suggested Navarro had a developmental disability.
Between the lines: As the stock market has plummeted in response to Trump's tariff plan, worries inside the White House have risen and some subtle finger-pointing is underway.
- Some White House officials blame Navarro for the misleading data that Trump used in presenting his tariff plan last week. (Navarro pushed back, telling Axios: "Show me an anonymous source and I will show you fake news.")
- Lutnick has been the subject of a whisper campaign —and the unflattering articles that followed— from critics who don't like his brash style. (There is still some backstabbing on Trump's team, after all.)
- Some White House officials, meanwhile, looked askance at a Politico story crediting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for helping Trump sharpen his tariff message over the weekend.
Behind the scenes: As a globalist free-trader who does significant business in China, Musk is the odd man out when it comes to tariff policy in this White House. As a result, it's one of the few areas in which he has little input.
- Navarro is seen in the White House as the extreme end of pro-tariff policy; Musk represents the opposite. In between are Lutnick, Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council.
- The White House says as many as 70 countries want to negotiate tariffs now. The talks begin "trade rep to trade rep," according to the senior White House official, who said Bessent gets involved as details are fleshed out. Lutnick, meanwhile, acts as a liaison between the business community and the White House.
- "Everyone — everyone — believes in the power of tariffs," the senior adviser said. "The debate is how broad the tariffs should be, and could be, to be effective."
