The feud between Donald Trump advisers Elon Musk and Peter Navarro has gone nuclear, but the White House isn't paying it much mind.
That's the sense reporters got from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, who brushed off initial concerns about the growing rift with a "whatever" before taking a hands-off approach to their ongoing spat over Trump's tariffs.
Navarro and Musk have engaged in a days-long back-and-forth on television and social media, with Trump's top trade aide playing booster for tariffs and the DOGE head throwing a tantrum on X. Musk called Navarro a "moron" and suggested that his economics degree from Harvard was a net negative. In replies to stories about the counselor, Musk called Navarro "dumber than a sack of bricks" and the r-slur in multiple posts.
"These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs," Leavitt said of the squabbling. "Boys will be boys! And we will let their public sparring continue. And you guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history."
Navarro is clearly loyal to the president's brakes-off tariffs plan. No one could possibly question his devotion to Trump after he chose prison over testifying against the president in Congress. Still, former Trump admin members suggested that Navarro should be ousted from the White House for his public tiff with Trump's campaign financier.
"Peter is really tough to work with," former Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney shared on CNBC. "One of the things that makes him so difficult to work is that he pretends to speak for the president when he does not...That has a tremendous demoralizing effect on the White House, and it does tend to mislead markets."
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