In the latest reminder of how far the political commentariat has drifted from reality, CNN contributor and New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro delivered a wildly unhinged take on the very public rift between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. During a panel discussion Thursday, Garcia-Navarro offered what she framed as a sobering observation but what sounded a lot more like a veiled conspiracy theory.
“If you look at the history around the world of authoritarians breaking up with their oligarch buddies,” she said, “those oligarch buddies don’t end up in a good place. They either end up impoverished, imprisoned, or dead.”
Dead.
That was the word.
She tried to soften it immediately — “I’m not saying that’s going to happen to Elon Musk here…” — but by then, the damage was done. The panel had officially veered into the Twilight Zone, suggesting the U.S. President might eliminate a billionaire tech mogul because of a policy disagreement over a spending bill.
For context, this all stems from Musk’s scathing criticism of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” a sweeping budget-and-tax reform proposal that Musk dubbed “the Debt Slavery Bill.” What followed was a public fallout between the two power players — testy posts on social media, accusations of betrayal, and swirling speculation about the fate of Musk’s government efficiency initiative, DOGE.
The idea that Trump — or any American president — would orchestrate Musk’s imprisonment or worse, simply for challenging a policy, is not just ridiculous, it’s dangerous. It plays into the worst stereotypes about Trump, injects fear into legitimate political debate, and betrays a profound misunderstanding of how power actually works in the U.S.
CNN is having a normal one. New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro takes part in a panel this morning and suggests @realDonaldTrump might have @elonmusk killed or imprisoned.
Nah, trying to kill or imprison people you disagree with is a leftist thing. pic.twitter.com/z9LeLowexB
— Rusty (@Rusty_Weiss) June 6, 2025
Radio host Tony Katz didn’t let it slide. “These people are just gross,” he said, reacting to the clip on his show. “They’re gross and they’re ignorant and they’re not worthy of your time or your love.” Harsh? Maybe. But given the absurdity of Garcia-Navarro’s suggestion, not exactly unearned.
This isn’t Garcia-Navarro’s first intellectual pratfall. She made headlines last year after being rhetorically dismantled by Vice President JD Vance in a discussion where she insisted that America “needs” illegal immigration to build homes. Her track record is a string of arguments that swing for nuance but land squarely in the realm of academic fantasy.
