Recent reports about Donald Trump pushing Elon Musk out of his orbit make more sense, according to some observers, now that Musk just attacked one of Trump's advisers.
Musk has been relatively silent regarding Trump's controversial tariff policies, and on Saturday the richest man in the world attacked one of the administration's chief tariff defenders, adviser Peter Navarro.
Responding to a video of Navarro, Musk said on X, "A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing." As Axios reports, this was "suggesting it resulted in having more ego than brains."
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"Another user stepped in to defend Navarro as right on trade, to which Musk replied 'He ain't built s---,'" the outlet added.
Online observers were quick to react to the feud that could potentially divide the MAGA base.
The National Review's Jeff Blehar, for instance, said, "Musk, describing Trump economist Peter Navarro's expertise, in re Navarro's public insistence that tariffs are great and wonderful."
"Having the president announce that Musk was stepping back from DOGE on Liberation Day now feels somewhat more than coincidental," the writer added.
One self-identified data specialist, @jbulltard1, asked on social media, "So with musk trolling Navarro today, is it fair to say Elon and trumps top advisors aren’t on the same page regarding tariffs?"
The Washington Post's Aaron Blake chimed in, "Elon Musk now taking open shots at fellow top WH adviser Peter Navarro, who happens to be an architect of the Trump tariffs Musk has largely avoided commenting on."
Democratic strategist and consultant Sawyer Hackett said, "Wow. Elon is attacking Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro on the tariffs."
"Musk lost $18 billion on Tesla stock alone this week," Hackett then added.