Who is Peter Navarro? Meet the Trump advisor who blames New Delhi for Russia-Ukraine war

Peter is a principal character in the Judeo-Christian ethos of the Western world and the accompanying mass media. Peter was chosen by Jesus to spread the gospel. Peter Pan is the symbol of everlasting youth. Peter Parker, at least in modern imagination, is the harbinger of great responsibility with great power. Peter Griffin, the protagonist of Family Guy is the perfect example of confused American socio-politics. And now we have a new Peter in the mix: Peter Navarro , Donald Trump’s advisor who has been going hammer-and-tongs after New Delhi, labelling India an “oil money laundromat for the Kremlin” with all the hallmarks of Trumpian diplomacy: Twitter threads, AI-generated images, casual racism, and specious arguments that would antagonise economists and geopolitical pundits.

In his recent gusto, Navarro has gone so far as to claim that the Russia-Ukraine war is “Modi’s war” and that the “road to peace, at least partially, runs through New Delhi,” which will surely make some commentators to channel their inner Peter Dinklage (the actor who played Tyrion Lannister) to think internally: “I wish I was the monster you think I am.”

Ngl, would be based if it were true 😁 https://t.co/t8mpBWHuk7 pic.twitter.com/ufS0TocFBc

— Akshay A (@Akshay_VAK) August 28, 2025

While Navarro’s remarks have drawn criticism both from US policy circles and international analysts, and even contradict the findings of the US Congressional Research Service, the gusto fits a familiar pattern: a career built on combative rhetoric, populist nationalism, and relentless positioning as Trump’s most zealous defender against perceived enemies at home and abroad.

The Book as Centrepiece

Like most members of the current Trump administration, the key to understanding Navarro is through a book. Kash Patel has his legal-thriller-style memoir. Navarro’s is more melodrama. I Went to Prison So You Won’t Have To: A Love and Lawfare Story in Trump Land, set for release in September 2025, co-written with his fiancée Bonnie “Pixie” Brenner and featuring a foreword by Steve Bannon, is pitched as part prison diary, part love story, and part political tract.




The marketing writes itself. Navarro, the first senior White House aide ever jailed for contempt of Congress, positions his four-month stint in a Miami prison not as humiliation but as heroism. The book is structured around letters exchanged with Brenner: his accounts of prison food, strip searches, and bureaucratic dysfunction; her diary entries of waiting and worrying on the outside. A romance under duress. Or, more cynically, the sort of Hallmark subplot you wrap around a grievance memoir to soften the edges.

But politics is the marrow. Navarro frames his conviction not as the inevitable outcome of defying a subpoena but as evidence of “lawfare” — Democrats weaponising the justice system to crush Trump and his allies. His refusal to testify before the January 6 committee becomes, in his telling, an act of loyalty to both Trump and the Constitution. The title itself is a dare: I Went to Prison So You Won’t Have To. A martyrdom narrative packaged for the MAGA base.

The Professor Who Pivoted

The irony of Navarro’s career is that for decades he wasn’t MAGA, or even Republican, at all. Born in Cambridge in 1949, he studied economics at Tufts, earned a Ph.D. from Harvard, and became a professor at UC Irvine. In the 1990s he was a Democrat running for mayor and Congress in San Diego, railing against developers and pollution. He lost — repeatedly — but his political identity was firmly centre-left.

The pivot came later. Navarro decided China was the villain hollowing out America. He churned out books like The Coming China Wars and Death by China, the latter so strident it included quotations from a fake expert named “Ron Vara” — an anagram of his own surname. Scholarly rigour was less important than the message: Beijing was eating America’s lunch.

This fixation caught the eye of Jared Kushner, who gave Trump Death by China during the 2016 campaign. Suddenly Navarro, the obscure professor and perennial political loser, was reborn as Trump’s trade hawk.

Tariff Man’s Bulldog

In Washington, Navarro was a grenade with the pin pulled out. Trump created the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy and put him in charge. From there, Navarro became the White House’s loudest advocate of tariffs and its sharpest critic of globalists.

He fought constant turf wars. Gary Cohn, Trump’s economic adviser, dismissed him as “the only one in the world” who thought tariffs worked. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin accused him of sabotaging trade talks. Wall Street detested him. That only fuelled his brand.

He was never subtle. In 2018, furious at Justin Trudeau for pushing back on tariffs, Navarro declared there was “a special place in hell” for leaders who crossed Trump. The backlash was instant, the apology reluctant. But the line cemented Navarro’s role: Trump’s attack dog with a Ph.D.

His policies were just as blunt. Tariffs on China, tariffs on Europe, tariffs on India. Economists groaned. Trump’s base applauded. For Navarro, every chart showing rising costs was proof the elites didn’t get it.

Prison, Martyrdom, Merchandise

Navarro’s downfall was inevitable. Subpoenaed by the January 6 committee, he refused to show up, insisting Trump had invoked executive privilege. Courts disagreed. No written invocation was ever produced. He was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress and sentenced to four months in prison.

He emerged from prison not chastened but rebranded. At the 2024 Republican National Convention, Navarro walked on stage to cheers and declared: “I went to prison so you won’t have to.” A slogan rehearsed for prime time, and later recycled as his book title. Prison had become merchandise. The mugshot a logo. The conviction a credential.

Enemies and Endorsements

Navarro thrives on enemies. Economists say tariffs hurt growth. Elon Musk called him “dumber than a sack of bricks.” Former colleagues rolled their eyes at his theatrics. But Navarro wears derision like a medal.

His endorsements are equally telling. Steve Bannon calls him a “warrior.” Donald Trump Jr. praises his loyalty. Conservative talk radio treats him as a martyr to “lawfare.” In Navarro’s swamp calculus, the more he is mocked by elites, the more authentic he appears to the base.

India as a Target


And so to India. In his latest outburst, Navarro accused New Delhi of bankrolling Putin by buying discounted Russian oil. He branded India an “oil laundromat,” accused its refiners of profiteering, and even claimed Ukraine was now “Modi’s war.”

It was amateurish theatre, complete with AI-generated graphics and economic logic that would embarrass an undergraduate. India has long argued its Russian crude imports are about energy security, with much of the refined product sold to global markets anyway. Europe continues to import Russian gas. The US still buys Russian uranium. Navarro zeroed in on India not because the facts demanded it but because the spectacle did.

By making India the villain, Navarro found another justification for Trump’s 50% tariffs and another opportunity to play his favourite role: the populist patriot fending off free-riders.

St PETERsburg

The Peter Principle says people rise to their level of incompetence. Washington, under Trump’s swamp revival, is living proof. A Homeland Security chief who loses her handbag, a Defence Secretary who leaks strike plans in Signal chats, a Vice President who treats diplomacy like TikTok — all have floated to the top. And then there’s Peter Navarro. The academic who reinvented himself as Tariff Man’s bulldog. The trade adviser who went to prison and came back with a book deal. If Washington is St PETERsburg, Navarro is its patron saint.