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Journalism of Courage
The fault lines in the new Washington under President Donald Trump became visible as White House trade advisor Peter Navarro lashed out at Elon Musk after the billionaire’s X social media platform fact-checked Navarro’s latest diatribe against India for buying Russian oil as “hypocritical”.
Navarro and Musk have had an acrimonious relationship in the past, with Musk having called him a “moron” in the past. Musk is no longer with the Trump administration — he quit as head of Department of Government Efficiency in May — but still wields influence in the MAGA constituency. He has clashed with the Trump administration officials on the issue of tariffs and has made his opposition to such trade practices quite loud and clear.
“Wow. @elonmusk is letting propaganda into people’s posts. That crap note below is just that. Crap. India buys Russia oil solely to profiteer. It didn’t buy any before Russia invaded Ukraine. Indian govt spin machine moving high tilt. Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs,” Navarro said in a post on X on Saturday.
He was responding to a community note — a crowdsourced fact-checking feature on X where users can add context, fact-checks to potentially misleading posts — on his earlier post in which he claimed that India’s purchase of Russian oil “feeds” the Russian “war machine”.
“India highest tariffs costs US jobs. India buys Russian oil purely to profit/Revenues feed Russia war machine. Ukrainians/ Russians die. US taxpayers shell out more. India can’t handle truth/spins,” Navarro’s post had said.
Describing Navarro’s claims as “hypocritical”, a community note on the post read: “India’s legal, sovereign purchases of Russian oil for energy security do not violate international law. The US, while pressuring India, continues to import billions in Russian goods, like uranium, exposing a clear double standard.”
India has rejected as “inaccurate and misleading” Navarro’s attacks on it for the procurement of Russian crude oil, but this is the first time the Trump aide’s post against India on the issue has drawn a community note on X.
Last week, Navarro accused India of being an “oil money laundromat for the Kremlin” and described it as “strategic freeloading” that New Delhi continues to buy Russian weapons while urging American defence firms to transfer sensitive military technologies and set up manufacturing plants in India.
The Trump aide’s latest criticism of India came amid the first tentative sign of a possible thaw between India and US since August 6, when President Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff as a penalty for India’s purchase of Russian oil.
On Friday, Trump said in the Oval Office that India and the US have a “special relationship” and “there is nothing to worry about.” “I’ll always be friends with (Narendra) Modi, he’s a great prime minister,” Trump said.
Hours later on Saturday morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he “deeply” appreciated and “fully” reciprocated “President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of bilateral ties.”
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