Who are Boston Brahmins? The American elite 'invoked' in Peter Navarro’s India rant amid Trump tariff row

Donald Trump's trade advisor, Peter Navarro, sparked a row this week when he said ‘Brahmins’ were profiteering from the Russian oil deal with India.

Navarro alleged that Indian refiners purchase cheap Russian crude, process it, and then sell it abroad at a premium and even said that “India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin.”

“And what do we have to do as taxpayers? We have got to send them more money. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” Trump's aide said in the interview with Fox News.

The remarks were criticised largely in India, with many flagging the ‘caste’ angle in the comments. Navarro’s ‘Brahmin’ remark also unleashed a meme fest on social media. Some, however, suggested he was not refering to Indian Brahimins but to what many is US call ‘Boston Brahmins.’

Puri's Criticism

Officially, India responded to his criticism, with Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri asserting that New Delhi did not violate any rule. Puri slammed Navarro ‘laundromat’ remark and said New Delhi's Russian oil purchase since the Ukraine war has helped stabilise global markets and keep prices in check.

“Some critics allege that India has become a 'laundromat' for Russian oil. Nothing could be further from the truth,” he wrote in an article forThe Hindunewspaper, without taking the name of Navarro.

Brahmins are at the top of the pyramid in the Indian context. But they are not traditionally the business class in India.

However, ‘Brahmins’ is a common term in the US referring to rich business families. Boston’s wealthy elite were once called the ‘Boston Brahmins’. This is exactly what

Who are the Boston Brahmins?

Before Navarro's comments, the term ‘Boston Brahmins’ was also discussed during the episode involving Astronomer’s HR chief Kristin Cabot, who was seen cuddling with now-ex CEO Andy Byron at a Coldplay concert in July this year .

Kristin is married to Andrew Cabot, owner of Privateer Rum, and a descendant of the prestigious Cabot family, one of the oldest and wealthiest ‘Boston Brahmin’ families in America.

The ‘Boston Brahmins’ is a term used to refer to a small, influential group of wealthy families in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America.

The term is used for New England’s Anglo-Saxon elite descended from Puritan settlers. The community's influence came from wealth, education, and social standing and was oftenconsidered the ‘aristocracy’ of the United States in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.

While the ‘Boston Brahmins’ were wealthy, they were also known for founding prominent educational institutes. One of the most famous institutions founded by Boston Brahmins is Harvard. The Boston Latin School, the first high school in the US, was also founded by the Boston Brahmins.

The Origin of ‘Boston Brahmins’

Poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. popularised the phrase in the 1860s. In the novel Elsie Venner, Holmes called Boston’s elite families ‘the Brahmin caste of New England.’ Holmes borrowed “Brahmin” from India’s highest caste, implying refinement, privilege, and authority. Holmes Sr. was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston.

In short, the ‘Boston Brahmins’ were America’s version of a hereditary elite—a small, powerful circle of families who are said to have shaped the cultural, political, and intellectual life of New England for centuries.

The community's influence was rooted in old money, Ivy League education, Protestant values, and control of institutions.

Prominent Boston Families

Prominent 'Boston Brahmin' families included the Lowells, Cabots, Lodges, Adamses, and Winthrops.

Some prominent Boston Brahmins include former US Presidents John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, and the poet TS Eliot.

By the mid-20th century, immigration, social mobility, and changing politics eroded the dominance of ‘Boston Brahmins.’