[tomder55]

The rift in the Trump administration is opening wider than it did when there was a debate about H1B visas. Again it pits MegaMAGAs against Musk .

MegaMAGAs are all for this tariff mania . They argue we have been screwed for years because we have trade imbalances . I have also heard the fanciful argument that the framers only wanted to finance the nation with tariffs . And yes that was true at the end of the 18th century when American industry was in it's infancy and the US was not a world powerhouse. Now ? All the tariffs being proposed would not pay the interest in the national debt. Their focus is skewed. If the trade imbalance is an issue ;it is far from the most pressing one.

What happens when a nation gets excess $$$$ through trade ? Typically the money does not get stuffed in a mattress . The money gets reinvested . And where is the safest place to invest ? Yes ;the US .......they buy bonds ,treasuries , real estate ,build businesses in the US . As an example . BMW has a huge manufacturing plant near where I live in South Carolina. There are 11,000 Americans working there .

A trade imbalance is neither good or bad. The U.S sustains a large trade deficit because so many foreigners are eager to invest here.

Musk knows this . He is at odds with Trump's current tariff obsession. He does not come out directly against Trump . But he is leading the internal battle in the Administration against it . Peter Navarro is Musk's target .

Here is his reply to someone on X that lauded Navarro

Insurrection Barbie on X: "Here is Peter Navarro explaining the tariffs and contrary to the paid fake expert class that is usually on corporate media, Peter Navarro has a PhD in economics from Harvard. He’s also not going to lie to you about what is happening to a globalist agenda. Notice how he uses https://t.co/Ot8lnPosOE" / X

“A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,”

Elon Musk on X: "@DefiyantlyFree A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing. Results in the ego/brains>>1 problem." / X

He hopes for a North American-EU trade block that has no trade barriers .


Elon Musk says he hopes for zero tariffs with Europe someday

Elon Musk slams top Trump adviser Peter Navarro, calls for more free trade

And Musk is not alone .

Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager who supports Trump called for a time out on the tariffs. (so much for the nonsense lefty conspiracy wackos like Robert Reich who claims that Trump is tanking the markets so billionaires can buy the dip ).

Why we’ll have a recession - Robert Reich

Ackerman said
“The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system. Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down,”

Bill Ackman on X: "The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country. But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust. President @realDonaldTrump has elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical" / X


At the other end is ever faithful Steve Bannon .( not in the administration but still a MegaMAGA influencer ) He called Musk and the tech giants surrounding Trump ... "narcissistic globalists that put their wealth and power first."

Another hedge fund billionaire Brad Gerstner tweeted
Navarro nuclear style tariffs is not what people voted for - they will break the US economy NOT make us great again. CEOs support pro business Trump who promised precision guided truly reciprocal, smart tariffs that level the global playing field

Brad Gerstner on X: "Navarro nuclear style tariffs is not what people voted for - they will break the US economy NOT make us great again. CEOs support pro business Trump who promised precision guided truly reciprocal, smart tariffs that level the global playing field. ������ @MariaBartiromo https://t.co/g7cpN0GHMb" / X



Trump's coalition is fracturing .Trumps agenda is close to going off the rails .He has very little time to fix it.

[tomder55]

Peter Navarro made it clear that countries like Vietnam that have proposed zero tariffs will still be hit because zero tariffs are not enough. He called zero tariffs a “small first start.”

This is beginning to look more like a shake down more than a serious trade negotiation.

Aaron Rupar on X: "Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past." https://t.co/q1f3N5ebMz" / X


Meanwhile this is their message to Trump supporters who are retired or near retirement .
From Scott Bessett ' don't look at the markets .... nothing to see there '

WELKER: Trump promised he was going to improve the economy starting on day one. What is your message to Americans who want to retire right now and have just seen their lifetime savings drop significantly?BESSENT: Most Americans who have put away for years in their savings accounts don't look at the day to day fluctuations of what's happening

Meet the Press – April 6, 2025

Ummmm yes we do . We are very aware of the markets since they are the primary source of our income besides Social Security .

Navarro said nothing to worry about .... you don't lose if you don't sell.

Aaron Rupar on X: "Peter Navarro: "You can't lose money unless you sell ... we will hit 50,000 on the Dow easily by the end of this term." https://t.co/yDySRkKcbo" / X

Wrong again. Some of us have to sell every month to pay our monthly bills.

The most incoherent of the group was Commerce Sec Howard Lutnik who rambled on about how this will bring jobs to America like putting tiny screws in Iphones .

Aaron Rupar on X: "Lutnick: "The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones -- that kind of thing is going to come to America." https://t.co/g9TqxGxLHs" / X

Please don't insult our intelligence .

[tomder55]

Here ya go . Musk will leave DOGE soon . The better man is leaving




Musk could be headed for a Washington exit after turbulent times at Trump's DOGE | AP News

Musk is right about Navarro . He is a raging lefty . This is Time Mag flashback 2018

Twenty years ago, Navarro was a liberal economist who admired Hillary Clinton, argued for taxing the rich and had run for office as a Democrat four times. Today he is a top economic adviser to a Republican President. As Donald Trump’s director of trade and industrial policy, Navarro is known for his advocacy of tariffs and opposition to trade deals. It is Navarro who has pushed Trump to wage an escalating trade war that pits the U.S. against not only economic adversaries like China but also allies like Canada and the European Union. He is the most powerful person in Washington on the most volatile issue of Trump’s presidency.
Navarro’s positions put him at odds with most economists, most Republicans and many in the business community. But they are in sync with the President’s long-standing conviction that the U.S. is being ripped off by other countries. “Trump listens to Peter, especially when it comes to China,” says Stephen Moore, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, who frequently advises Trump and who disagrees with the tariff push.

Peter Navarro: The Democrat Behind Trump’s Trade War | TIME

Back then he argued for Clinton's free trade agenda .
This is what Reason published in 2020

Peter Navarro is a loser. Literally.
He has run for office five times and never won. He has never gained approval from the Senate to occupy an official cabinet post. He started a trade war that may not technically be lost yet, but it hasn't been a roaring success by any account.
And yet, somehow, he's become one of the most powerful people on the planet.
In a presidential administration that quickly jettisoned the few serious economists who signed on to help steer it away from catastrophe, Navarro has been the perfect fit. He's a tough-talking Democrat-turned-Republican who maintains a set of deeply held beliefs that influence his policy choices and who refuses to be compelled by expert opinion or facts. He has no governing experience and recognizes few of the practical or institutional limits on governmental behavior.

Peter Navarro's No-Good Economic Nationalism


But back then

In 1984, Navarro published a book titled The Policy Game: How Special Interests and Ideologues Are Stealing America. Reading it, I get the sense of a young Navarro who was a politically moderate and mainstream economist. He argued against the producers’ special interests that politically win out over consumers’ diffuse but more important interests. He blamed protectionist corporations and labor unions. He observed that protectionism “as a job program or form of income redistribution … fails miserably.” Invoking the Smoot–Haley tariff adopted at the beginning of the Great Depression, he pointed out the danger of retaliation and trade wars: “And as history has painfully taught, once protectionist wars begin, the likely result is a deadly and well-nigh unstoppable downward spiral by the entire world economy.” Elsewhere in the book he noted, “The biggest losers in the protectionist game are consumers.” He also warned against the danger of using national security as a justification for protectionism.

Peter Navarro’s Conversion | Cato Institute

He was right then . Protectionism is just another form of big state micromanaging the economy . ie socialism or it's predecessor mercantilism .