Don’t Trust the Experts. Make Them Up!
Paging Ron Vara: If you were, say, a White House trade adviser who had been part of crafting the tariff plan that a) relied on a ChatGPT-based formula that makes no sense and levied tariffs on islands full of penguins, b) tanked the global economy, and c) was, so far, shockingly unpopular, wouldn’t you want to put it all on someone else and have experts reaffirm your credibility?
Conveniently, the aforementioned Peter Navarro has his China hawk alter ego, Ron Vara. (Vara’s writing, from 2011: “Only the Chinese can turn a leather sofa into an acid bath, a baby crib into a lethal weapon, and a cellphone battery into heart-piercing shrapnel.” Well, OK!) Vara hasn’t made an appearance just yet, but he’s part of Navarro’s rise to prominence.
Truly. I did not make this up. I’m not sure I even could.
Navarro’s books contain repeated references to a man named Ron Vara, and in 2019 he co-authored a memo—advocating for tariffs—using that alter ego.
“Vara is a military veteran and Harvard-trained economist who made seven figures in the stock market by investing in companies that do well during international crises,” in Navarro’s telling, reported Tom Bartlett at The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2019. This has, per Navarro’s books, earned him the nickname “Dark Prince of Disaster.”
Why would Vara be valuable to Navarro? Well, Navarro is a bit of a Johnny-come-lately to China hawkdom and expertise, having only first traveled there in 2018 and having no Mandarin knowledge or deep background; Vara’s expertise—though made up—is something Navarro can rest on to back up his arguments. Or, perhaps Navarro uses Vara as a sort of imaginary friend, someone to consult with during long nights in his office. I get it, I have a toddler, we do lots of imaginary friends. I just didn’t know they were being used to lend credibility to our nation’s economic policy.
Navarro told The Chronicle of Higher Education that Vara was a “whimsical device and pen name I’ve used throughout the years for opinions and purely entertainment value, not as a source of fact,” which is…not true (just as his there-will-be-no-recession talking point earlier this week is not likely to be true, either). He also apparently compared the invented character to “Alfred Hitchcock appearing briefly in cameo in his movies.” (Some of Navarro’s coauthors through the years, like Glenn Hubbard, former dean of Columbia University’s business school, were not aware that Vara was made up, for what it’s worth, and were not happy with this revelation.)
(More Navarro from Eric Boehm here and here. TLDR? He might be just as bad as Bernie Sanders—and just as economically illiterate.)
Anyway, this brings me to the Musk feud.
On Saturday, Elon Musk took to X to mock Navarro’s doctorate from Harvard, calling it a “bad thing, not a good thing.” Navarro used a Fox News hit to claim Musk’s opposition to these tariffs is wholly self-interested: “Elon sells cars. He’s simply protecting his own interests.”
Then, Navarro kept hitting back via cable news hits: “We all understand in the White House—and the American people understand—that Elon’s a car manufacturer. But he’s not a car manufacturer—he’s a car assembler. If you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engines that he gets, which in the EV case are th
Article from Reason.com
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
