Yesterday Elon Musk let fly this little gem, directed at Trump’s economic advisor Peter Navarro:
This was in response to Navarro claiming that Elon Musk is not a car manufacturer via Tesla, but an “assembler,” snapping together Tesla’s like legos sourced from foreign countries.
I don’t know how much the context really matters: the point is that we’re getting messages from people like Navarro that are so divorced from reality that they are giving bricks a run for their money.
Elon Musk was “hired” by President Trump to come in and break parts of the inefficient government bureaucracy. I wonder if Musk really knew what he was signing up for?
It took a lot of courage (and maybe some arrogance) for Musk to leave Tesla (and SpaceX, and Xai) and step into his role at DOGE. I wonder if he would’ve done it, knowing the reputational damage that he and the Tesla brand would suffer…
But I will tell you that Musk going into attack mode against the likes of Navarro is the best hope the American economy has right now.
Elon Musk: 300 billion, Peter Navarro: 0
Peter Navarro has never run a business. He’s never built a supply chain. He’s never sold products in the U.S. or in an overseas market. And he’s sure never worked in a factory.
Navarro is an academic from the University of California. He thinks about stuff, gives lectures, writes books and papers. He has zero real-world experience – he literally does not know what he’s talking about…
It’s a pretty different story for Elon Musk. Musk is the richest man in the world exactly because he can run a business, and build a supply chain and sell his products in every major economy in the world.
Elon Musk has built factories in the U.S., Germany and China.
When it comes to knowing his market and knowing how to efficiently sell cars into markets, Musk is as good as they come. It’s really kind of mind-boggling that an academic like Navarro wants to go toe-to-toe on how global commerce works.
Seems like Navarro (and the Trump administration) would do well to take cues from the most successful businessman in history.
Musk Points the Way
One of my favorite companies right now followed Musk’s advice, and its investors are poised to reap a substantial reward.
It was just about a year ago when Musk pointed out one of the fatal flaws facing AI companies: the electrical grid.
More specifically, he zeroed in one particular critical grid component that is currently in a massive supply shortage…
If you remember the recent power outage at London’s Heathrow Airport, 1,000 flights were cancelled, affecting 290,000 travelers — all because one grid component (a transformer) blew up…
Power was out for 18 hours at Heathrow, because it’s impossible to just go buy transformers. Demand is so heavy that wait times are up to three years…
That’s not a typo: order a transformer today and it could take three years to get it. And the fact that most transformers are made in China, those wait times are probably even longer – thanks Navarro!
Well, the company I’m talking about didn’t dismiss Elon Musk’s prediction. They got busy retrofitting one of their factories to make this critical grid component.
Made in America, by Americans, for America.
Like every other stock, the recent tariff sell-off has knocked this company’s share price down to pretty surprising levels. But the fact is, it is way ahead of the curve when it comes to investing in the U.S.
There’s still a few months before this factory comes online. But when we get past these trade issues, investors will see who the big winners really are…
Mark my words: This company will be one of them.
Cheers,
Briton Ryle
Chief Investment Strategist
Outsider Club
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritonRyle
