Rachel Maddow Blasts Peter Navarro For Inventing ‘Expert’ Who Inspired Trump’s Tariffs Plan

MSNBC; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The MSNBC anchor explained how Navarro quoted an economics expert named Ron Vara in his books to justify his pro-tariffs stance, only for it be revealed that Ron Vara doesn’t actually exist.

MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow criticized Peter Navarro—the official counselor to President Donald Trump—for inventing an economics expert named Ron Vara in his books to justify his pro-tariffs stance, noting that not only does “Vara” not exist, but that this whole episode explains where Trump got the idea for the tariffs in the first place.

Trump’s tariff crusade has pushed what was a bullish stock market to the brink of bear territory—a 20% drop from recent highs—faster than any president in modern history.

If the market closes at that threshold, it would mark the swiftest collapse from bull to bear during a new administration since the S&P 500’s inception in 1957.

Maddow traced the origins of Trump’s tariff idea back to a fabricated memo—authored by a “fake person with a fake email address,” she said—that began circulating in Washington after Trump’s 2016 win and initially made headlines back in 2019.

That memo, Maddow revealed, was a creation by Navarro, who became a senior trade adviser in the Trump administration after Jared Kushner discovered his book Death by China. Navarro, in his books, frequently referenced an alleged expert named Ron Vara who, as Maddow pointed out, does not exist.

In fact, “Ron Vara” is an anagram of Navarro’s own last name.