Elon Musk loves the R-word insult. How does Eric Schmitt feel about that? | Opinion
I’ve been under the impression that nice, normal people decided a long time ago that we just don’t call others the R-word. The richest man on Earth, who’s currently taking a chainsaw to the federal government, obviously sees things differently.
Depending on where you get your news, you might not realize that South African multibillionaire Elon Musk flings that vile slur at his enemies all the time. This past week, he used it repeatedly in his very public spat over tariffs with U.S. trade and manufacturing czar Peter Navarro. Musk hurled variations on the insult at Navarro, calling him “Peter Re***do,” and tagging the account “Re***d Finder” in X posts about him.
That’s right — the man President Donald Trump has entrusted with slashing and burning federal programs with the new Department of Government Efficiency tosses around one of most childish and hurtful insults in the English language. I envy those of you who don’t waste your time on social media, and especially on his X network, because you likely don’t know about his constant juvenile, bullying and extremely vulgar behavior there.
Adding insult to injury
This man who’s supposedly running at least four major companies, in addition to his government-busting work, makes hundreds of posts a week on X, while also often appearing on TV and streaming himself playing video games. (Who knows how much he’ll do that in the future, though, since he rage-quit a Path of Exile 2 livestream last weekend after other players bombarded him with insults of their own? And yes, Musk called them the R-word as he signed off in a huff.)
Musk has directed the nasty name at American astronaut Scott Kelly (also calling his brother, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a “traitor.”) He’s used it with plenty of others, including U.K. Parliament member Graham Stuart and left-wing commentator Keith Olbermann.
His mom, model Maye Musk, gets in on the act, too, lustily tagging posts with figures such as Sens. Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker with the epithet. Do you suppose her bosses at IMG Models and the execs who signed her Covergirl Makeup contract are aware of that? Do they approve?
Normally, I’d say it’s best to ignore this kind of adolescent behavior, but given the keys of power Trump has handed over to Musk, it’s absolutely relevant to every American.
Schmitt’s early Missouri politics career
I know it’s fashionable in some circles to celebrate the new administration’s full-on assault on diversity, equity and inclusion at every level of our society. But I wonder what Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt is really thinking about Musk’s specific derision of our developmentally disabled family members, friends and neighbors, who should certainly be prime beneficiaries of DEI initiatives.
Because he’s still the same Eric Schmitt who began his political life back here in Missouri advocating for people with special needs — those like his own son, who has epilepsy, is on the autism spectrum and is nonverbal. Schmitt has long maintained that his son was his inspiration to run for office, and his work both years ago in Missouri and during his time in the U.S. Senate proves he’s committed to the cause. Yet a few weeks ago, he posted a picture of himself smiling as he posed with Musk and the rest of the new Senate DOGE Caucus.
There’s not much else to say. But I can’t help but continue to be whiplashed by the party that’s loudly declared itself the bastion of family values since I was a teenager openly embracing not just an admitted (and jury-adjudicated) sexual abuser as president, but now a right-hand man whose puerile public behavior includes ridiculing some of the most vulnerable among us. But I suppose an early touchstone of Trump’s political career was mimicking the physical disabilities of a reporter he didn’t like on the campaign trail, and that didn’t derail him. So here’s where we are in GOP politics, 2025 edition.
I’m not Eric Schmitt, and I don’t have kids. But I can’t imagine proudly posting a photo of myself, grinning, next to a man who cruelly and unashamedly insults fellow Americans who are just like my own family.
This story was originally published April 13, 2025 at 5:07 AM.
CORRECTION: The column originally used the wrong first name for Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.
