'Top secret': Scribble on Elon Musk’s notepad goes viral

A picture on the X showed Musk looking ahead with a name card, a notepad, a pen, and an empty glass in front of him.

A message on Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s notepad during US President Donald Trump’s April 10 cabinet meeting has gone viral.

A picture on the X showed Musk looking ahead with a name card, a notepad, a pen, and an empty glass in front of him. Before him, there was the message “Top Secret” scribbled on the notepad with blue ink. It was also accompanied by two exclamation marks.

Netizens shared what the notepad could have inside it on social media with one writing, “The most Top Secret stuff is written in ball point pen” while another said, “He 100% wrote it himself with that pen.” A third commented, “Underlined twice, two exclamation points. The most top secret.

Elon Musk had a seat at the far end of Trumps Cabinet meeting today. The words Top Secret!! were written on his notepad. Its just a joke, he said. pic.twitter.com/J20B3SGIAe
Nik Popli (@nik_popli) April 10, 2025

A user wrote, “Boys will be boys” as some also speculated that the notepad could have details about Donald Trump’s tariff plan as they referred to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s recent remark about the public spat between Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro.

Karoline Leavitt said, “Look, these are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs. We will let their public sparring continue and you guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history.”

Musk recently called Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, a "moron" over comments he made about his electric vehicle firm, Tesla.

Musk - who is also a member of the Trump administration - said Navarro was "dumber than a sack of bricks" in posts on his social media platform X.

It was in response to an interview Navarro gave in which he criticised Musk. "[He's] not a car manufacturer. He's a car assembler, in many cases," Navarro said.

Navarro was being interviewed about Trump's sweeping tariff policy and said he wanted to see parts made in the US in the future instead.

According to Musk, who has hinted at his opposition to White House trade policy, Navarro's claims about Tesla were "demonstrably false".