All posts tagged "peter navarro"

'Not supposed to work this way': Analyst claims in-fighting is tearing White House apart

President Donald Trump's White House has become increasingly divided in record time, according to MSNBC's Steve Benen.

In a new piece for MaddowBlog, Benen wrote, "Throughout American history, there have been administrations with rival factions, but those divisions usually take time. On Team Trump, the cracks are bursting into view just three months after Inauguration Day."

Benen cited a recent Wall Street Journal report about Trump cabinet secretaries going to extraordinary lengths to subvert trade advisor Peter Navarro in order to convince Trump to pause his tariffs and allow the stock markets to rebound.

"If the Journal's account is accurate, it tells us quite a bit about conditions inside the Trump administration," Benen wrote.

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He continued, "For one thing, functional White Houses are not supposed to work this way, with Cabinet secretaries quietly scheming to work around a misguided anti-trade trade adviser. For another, if the Journal’s report is correct, it reflects an implicit acknowledgement that Trump has no real understanding of his own policy agenda, which in turn creates an environment in which Cabinet secretaries, confident in the knowledge that the president will agree with the last person he spoke to, have to engage in skullduggery to prevent global economic ruin."

Benen also cited the division between DOGE chief Elon Musk and Navarro -- Musk called the trade adviser a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks" -- and the apparent anti-Navarro alliance between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Lutnick.

"In theory, a strong president could intervene, resolve differences, unite his or her own team and establish a clear vision for his or administration to follow," Benen concluded. "In practice, however, Trump appears content to play the role of President Bystander, watching these divisions get even worse."

Read the MaddowBlog story here.

'Feel sorry for him': Trump aide responds on CNN after Musk calls him 'dumber than bricks'

Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed Thursday that he felt sorry for Elon Musk just days after the two engaged in a public war of words.

On Tuesday, Navarro referred to Musk as a "car assembler," not a manufacturer. Navarro was referring to the fact that many parts for Musk's Tesla electric vehicles are imported before they're assembled in Texas.

"Navarro is truly a moron," Musk wrote on X. "What he says here is demonstrably false."

In a follow-up post, Musk claimed that Navarro was "dumber than a sack of bricks," before Musk "sarcastically apologized to bricks."

On Thursday, CNN's Kasie Hunt asked if Navarro had "patched it up" with Musk.

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"Elon and I are fine, we're great, it's no problem," Navarro maintained. "I said that earlier. It's like, it's no problem."

Musk reportedly tried to talk Trump out of imposing his sweeping tariffs, which led to days of stock market free-fall before Trump announced Wednesday that he was issuing a 90-day reprieve. Musk even posted a video to his X account in which he called for a free-trade zone between the U.S. and Europe.

Navarro continued, "Look, he's he's got a job to do; I got a job to do. The president values Elon. He's doing a great job on DOGE, and he's paying a very heavy price. And I feel sorry for him on that. Nobody should have their cars firebombed by crazy people. That's just wrong. And nobody should be doing the kinds of things they're doing."

He added, "My job is trade; Elon does DOGE and the twain doesn't meet. And it's great. I mean...that's a tempest in a teapot and it's in my rearview mirror, and it's in his. And we're fine."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

Trump's net worth sinks along with the economy as 'most valuable asset' tumbles in value

President Donald Trump's net worth has taken a hit — by the hundreds of millions — following his tariff announcement last week, Forbes reported Tuesday.

Forbes senior editor Dan Alexander estimated the loss at about $500 million, down to $4.2 billion from $4.7 billion on April 2.

"Trump’s biggest loss comes from his most valuable asset, the Trump Media and Technology Group, which declined 8% over the last three trading days, hitting its lowest price since October," Alexander wrote. "His stake, worth $2.2 billion Wednesday, now sits at $2 billion."

Also losing value are Trump’s commercial real estate holdings, residential real estate, and golf courses.

"The real threat to Trump’s portfolio, however, is the possibility of belt tightening," Alexander wrote. "Club members might cut back on weddings, lavish dining or even memberships."

ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs

Alexander quoted an industry insider saying, “If you hit a recession, your wife looks over at you and says ‘What the [heck] are we doing with this expensive club membership?’"

Alexander wrote that Trump has lost more from privately held assets than from his publicly traded stock.

"The greatest threat to Trump is not direct tariffs on products he imports, given that his businesses don’t sell much in the way of hard goods," according to Forbes. "It’s the loss of investor confidence around the world. People rely on whims, not logic, when deciding whether to buy or ditch luxury real estate, pricy club memberships and high-flying meme stocks."

Forbes estimated that Elon Musk has seen his net worth decline "below $300 billion for the first time since November 2024," following the Trump tariff announcement. Over the weekend, Musk broke from White House policy, posting a video on X in which he lamented high tariffs and called for "a zero tariff situation."

Musk and Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, an architect of Trump's trade plan, publicly traded more insults on Tuesday, even before the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 300 points.

Read the Forbes article here.

'Blow your mind': Experts expose new 'major math error' in Trump trade formula

Experts from a conservative think tank are challenging "bad math" in President Donald Trump's complicated-looking formula explaining why he thinks tariffs are a good idea.

CNN's John Berman exclaimed, "This is going to blow your mind here!" when introducing two economists with The American Enterprise Institute who pointed out the "major math error" to the Trump administration.

Dr. Stan Veuger explained that the administration "picked the wrong number" based on the results of a research paper to fill in one of the Greek symbols used "to make their approach look a little more sophisticated." The result made each tariff "four times bigger" than they would have been had they used the right number.

"I don't think much of the approach makes sense, even conceptually," Veuger said. "But if we're going to take their approach seriously, if we're going to say, 'We're going to base our tariffs, our entire international trading system, on this formula,' they have to put in the right numbers and do the calculation correctly."

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Berman asked, "Have you taken this to them? Have they acknowledged that they have a bum number in here?"

"They have not disagreed with us on the substance," Veuger answered. "In fact, what we've seen is that senior members of the administration — Steve Miran, yesterday, who's the chairman of the council of economic advisers, Scott Bessent this morning, who is the treasury secretary — they have both said, 'We had nothing to do with this formula. That was other people in the administration.'

"Normally, if you're convinced of the accuracy, the wisdom of your policies, you do not point fingers at other people in the administration and say, 'They came up with this, we did not.'"

Dr. Kevin Corinth added, "It's important to point out that we're talking about corrected tariffs. These are not the correct tariffs; we're just saying if you apply their formula correctly, they should have been a fourth as high as what they're saying they should be. But we are not at all endorsing this approach...To say that we should only base these tariffs on the trade deficit is just bad economics."

Watch the clip below or at this link via CNN.

'Scared and sick': CNN guest warns focus put on special elections is a bad sign for Trump

CNN's John Berman asked conservative commentator Scott Jennings to explain in one sentence what he thinks President Donald Trump's tariff policy will look like when he announces it on April 2, adding, "Do you think [the president] can explain it in one sentence today?"

"Well, I would never want to predict or get ahead of Donald Trump," Jennings began. "But my view is, is that he's been very clear that he believes tariffs will force more manufacturing, more production, more onshoring into the United States, which will ultimately be good for the working class of America."

Jennings said the people who agree with the president are the unions, like the head of the United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain.

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"But Scott, what's he doing? What's he going to do?" Berman continued. "Because he said 'reciprocal' — now he's maybe saying not now."

Berman added that no one eally knows where Trump is going with this strategy, "and this is like two days from now."

Jennings explained the general principle behind Trump's thinking is "he believes that tariffs force jobs, manufacturing and production back into the United States. The working class will benefit from this. and if allowed to play out over the long term, it will benefit, you know, the core working class constituency that he believes has been hollowed out by trade policies of the past. that is their general economic view."

ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs

Peter Navarro, senior counselor for trade, "says 10 years, $6 trillion of revenue of revenue from tariffs, which some economists will tell you is $6 trillion in taxes," Berman added.

Democratic political consultant Maria Cardona claimed, "This is something that Americans are actually becoming very concerned with, and that's why you're seeing the volatility in all of these special elections. The fact that we are even talking about the two special elections in Florida tomorrow, John, I think is an indication of how scared and sick voters are about what Trump is imposing on them versus what they expected because of his promises during the election."

Trump said on Sunday that the reciprocal tariffs he plans to announce this week will include all nations, "not just a smaller group of 10 to 15 countries with the biggest trade imbalances," according to NBC News.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Trump adviser's CNN interview goes off the rails as he insists on discussing drugs instead

With the trade war simmering between the U.S. and its closest neighbors, CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown wanted to get the inside scoop from guest Peter Navarro on the Trump administration's next moves.

Navarro is currently the administration's senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, and seemed to be the perfect official to ask about the tariffs that will end up hurting American consumers. But Navarro didn't want to talk about trade and manufacturing; he wanted to talk about drugs.

Brown began, "Of course we're all waiting to see what's going to happen with these tariffs. What's going to happen with the call today between Trump and Trudeau? What can we expect to happen from that call? Do you expect a deal to be struck?"

"Well, as the boss says, 'Let's see what happens.' It's really not my place to get ahead of the president on this," Navarro said before heading down the rabbit hole while Brown and Blitzer looked on.

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"What I've done a really deep dive on, and I think your viewers would really benefit from understanding, as the secretary of commerce said today, it's a drug war. And here's the issue. Fentanyl. It's been called a 'slow-moving weapon of mass destruction.' And I think it's the most insidious material that's ever been invented because it's very low cost, it's highly addictive, and extremely potent."

Navarro went on to explain how fentanyl is laced into other illicit drugs to "up the high."

Brown interjected, "Right, but I want to just follow up with you on this —"

"But let me just say the other part which is the buried lede," Navarro continued. "Ambien, Xanax, all these painkillers, Vicodin. These all now are being spiked with fentanyl. The DEA, the Drug Enforcement agency, got 80 million pills —

Brown tried again, "OK, but I have to jump in here because I want to —"

The two then began talking over each other with Brown finally managing to say, "Justin Trudeau, for his part, said, 'This isn't about fentanyl. That's a false pretext. Less than 1% of fentanyl crossing the border comes from Canada.' He said there was a 97% drop, according to the CBP...from December to January, because of what Canada has done to try to crack down on fentanyl."

"Do you want to know what I say to him?" Navarro asked. "I say to him that 12 pounds of fentanyl coming across the borders, which is what they got, is enough to kill 3 million Americans. I would say to Mr. Trudeau that he has allowed Mexican drug cartels to embed themselves across Canada, bring up their little pill presses, and manufacture these fake prescription drugs, which then find their way. So, I think, Mr. Trudeau, it would be really useful if he just toned stuff down."

Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.

MAGA disciple flips over Kamala Harris going by her first name: 'She's not a soccer star!'

Former President Donald Trump's former trade adviser Peter Navarro has a simple demand for Trump supporters: stop referring to Vice President Kamala Harris by her first name.

He ranted about the vice president's name during an episode of Steve Bannon's "War Room," where he is filling in as Bannon serves out his prison sentence for contempt of Congress — an offense for which Navarro was recently released from prison.

"I am urging you, from this day forward, never, ever, ever, to refer to Kamala Harris by her first name, only her first name," said Navarro. "Kamala, Kamala, Kamala... she is not a soccer star, okay? Pelé, I get it, Messi, I get it, okay. But when you use 'Kamala' these days, it does not do us any good. Works in the other direction. It personalizes her and it creates a favorable impression. We haven't been able to do what needs to be done based on her resume, turn Kamala into a four-letter word like Hillary was. So stop doing that, okay? No more Kamala."

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The only time Harris' first name should be used alone, Navarro continued, is when it's used with a "Trump-like nickname."

"So ode or homage to that favorite pop music Karma Chameleon, that's not bad. Kama-liar, that's not bad. But we're having a week right now, we're burying Kamala as a single-use name, okay?"

Navarro asked viewers when they last heard anyone refer to "Donald John Trump favorably or affectionately or at all, simply as Donald?"

"The only time you ever heard Donald is if it's got a The in front of it and it's a pejorative when people do that, right? So cut the Kamala crap, okay? Cut the Kamala crap."

He pleaded with MAGA supporters to pass along the message.

"Some of my friends in the social media, please put that out there. Everybody, everybody, send this out right now. It's not doing the Trump campaign a single bit of good to ever refer to this woman by her first name. She is not Pelé. She cannot bend 'em like Pelé, or Beckham," he said.

Watch the video below or at the link here.

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‘Winning’: Republican lawyers justify lawbreaking stars of ‘law and order’ GOP convention

MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump and a fraternity of fellow felons played starring roles at this week’s Republican National Convention.

There was former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, fresh out of federal prison, delivering a prime-time speech.

There was former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, prowling the Fiserv Forum convention floor with official credentials.

More than a dozen Republican convention delegates are indicted “fake electors” charged with attempting to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

And even Kid Rock — who performed a pro-Trump anthem minutes before the former president delivered his lengthy nomination acceptance speech Thursday — has been charged with several crimes over the years stemming from physical altercations.

Republicans, who used the convention to fashion themselves the party of law and order and rule of law, largely dismissed their GOP brethren’s legal troubles as witch hunts, abuse of federal power and the Democrat-driven product of conservatives’ new favorite term — “lawfare.”

But unlike most unelected delegates at the Republican National Convention, some veteran Republican lawyers admitted to Raw Story that Trump and his top advisors actually stepped over the legal line.

“I mean, when you don’t reply to a subpoena, you don’t reply to a subpoena,” former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) — who has a law degree from Penn State Dickinson Law — told Raw Story on the convention floor Thursday.

Other Republican lawyers turned lawmakers are surprised the Supreme Court recently granted Trump — along with other presidents — sweeping immunity from being prosecuted for anything they claim as an ‘official duty, such as commanding Department of Justice officials to overturn the will of the American people.

“He’s the luckiest man I've ever met,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) told Raw Story as he was entering the convention Thursday. “And he was very lucky on Saturday. Thank God.”

Before coming to Congress, McCaul served as both deputy attorney general of Texas and a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice. He’s still mystified by some recent rulings, including Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision — which is being appealed — that Special Counsel Jack Smith is illegitimate.

“I didn't see some of these recent legal wins coming,” McCaul said. “I'm a federal prosecutor, I was worried about some of these [cases].”

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Smith is prosecuting Trump for retaining boxes and boxes of sensitive classified documents after leaving the White House

“Do you think a president should still take classified documents with him?” Raw Story asked former Rep. John Duncan Jr. (R-TN).

“No. I don't think he should,” Duncan, who previously served as a criminal court judge, said.

‘Yeah?” Raw Story pressed. “But not illegal?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” Duncan — who recently argued in an op-ed that roughly 90% of classified documents are ‘too much’ — told Raw Story. “Technology moves so fast, I can tell you any files that Trump had for three and a half years, it's out of date. So I think it's a bunch of hullabaloo over nothing.”

EXCLUSIVE: Trump ‘secretary of retribution’ won't discuss his ‘target list’ at RNC

Indeed, the Republican lawyers Raw Story talked to at the GOP convention wouldn’t have necessarily prosecuted Trump and his former team — including Navarro, Steve Bannon and Roger Stone — had it been up to them. But they indicated the various cases are far from baseless.

They’re outliers in an arena that gave recently released convict Navarro a standing ovation Wednesday evening..

“Donald Trump's gonna be our next president. Joe Biden's gonna be out of the White House. Peter Navarro's outta jail,” Connecticut delegate Jeff Santopietro told Raw Story after having Navarro sign a copy of his book Thursday. “Listen, first of all, I'm buying it to support him, but I understand it's a good read. And I think that he deserves to get a break in life, because Joe Biden and the government really screwed the guy.”

“Lawfare” may feel like new rhetoric on the right, but it’s become a deeply held conviction to many Republicans.

“It smells like there's two sets of rules and there's not in the world,” Santopietro said. “There's a set of rules for the Bidens and there set of rules for everybody else. If you have an ‘R’ behind the end of your name, or you’re associated with Donald Trump, you end up getting federal officers after you.”

“What’d you make of the New York case against Trump?” Raw Story asked, referring to the case that led to Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, stemming from Trump’s hush money payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 president election. Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for September.

“It’s bulls–t,” Santopietro said. “In plain English it was all bulls–t. Matter of fact … that’s a persecution. That wasn't a legal case at all.”

“They should throw that whole case out and say they're sorry and move on. Cause when he's in the White House, January 21st,” Santopietro started before stopping himself. “There’s no payback. But you know what? They deserve everything they get.”

New York Republicans agree.

“Shame on us for basically having a prior president of the United States from your home state, you disown him the day he becomes president, not the day he no longer is president, from your own home state. Who does that? Foolishness,” Tommy — who declined to offer his last name — told Raw Story through his thick Brooklyn accent. “You disown the guy the day he has the authority to make your lives better in your home state out of the other 50 states? Something's not mentally right.”

Republican lawyers see the line Trump and his advisers crossed, but that doesn’t mean they disagree with the party’s unelected base.

“The problem is, [former Obama administration Attorney General] Eric Holder didn’t reply to a subpoena and he’s walking around a free man. He was never prosecuted. Again, it’s the old double standard,” Santorum said. “I think Americans are hopefully getting tired of it and they’d like to have both parties play by the same rules.”

“What do you make of these court cases coming down in Trump's favor?” Raw Story asked.

“The Democrats found a bunch of spurious claims against him. I mean the New York case, he’ll win that on appeal, because it was a bogus charge,” Santorum said. “They have frivolous charges. This is lawfare…they don’t care about winning, they care about damaging politically.”

When asked about the substance of the cases against Trump and his team, McCaul demurred.

“For this crowd, it just validates what they've been thinking, ‘It's all rigged,’” McCaul told Raw Story.

“But what about your crowd of legal scholars?” Raw Story pressed.

“Hey man,” McCaul said. “I know he's winning.”

'Party of law and order' mocked as Trump adviser speaks at RNC hours after prison release

Critics torched the Republicans and a former Trump White House official, who stumped for his old boss Wednesday hours after his release from prison.

Peter Navarro was released from a Florida prison Wednesday after completing his sentence for a contempt of Congress conviction, and spoke to a crowd of MAGA supporters the same night.

A defiant Navarro proclaimed, "I'm Peter Navarro and I went to prison so you don’t have to."

The curious choice of speakers comes as Republicans continue to hammer Democrats, who they've called soft on crime.

MAGA didn't seem to care, with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins noting Navarro received a standing ovation from supporters in Milwaukee. The crowd also chanted, "welcome home!"

Navarro blasted what he called a "whole army of illiterate illegal aliens stealing the jobs of black, brown, and blue-collar Americans" and slammed what he called "lawfare jackals" for putting people like him in prison.

Also at the convention: fellow convicted felon Paul Manafort, and, of course, former President Donald Trump.

The internet, predictably, relentlessly mocked the GOP's choice of speaker.

"Republicans love convicted felons!"

"We don’t know for sure but apparently committing crimes is popular with Republicans," jabbed @AreMond2.

"I wonder if he's still on probation? Clowns, drunks, traitors, and felons," quipped @sandiechill.

"I sure he’s not supposed to be hanging out with felons," wrote @slreynolds626.

"Republicans love convicted felons!" exclaimed @PhilJonesy3 Wednesday.

"The party of law and order," wrote @jkhewett.

"I don't see the problem here. The GOP *is* the party of lawfare jackals, so he's right," wrote @quiverumquaerit.