Did New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy just show himself to be a puppet of his state’s teachers union? Or just clueless? We fear it’s likely both.

The Garden State’s new Democratic governor finds himself in the middle of a storm over his abrupt firing of Paula White as assistant state education commissioner — just hours after she was unanimously confirmed for the job.

That immediately raised strong suspicions that the New Jersey Education Association had called the governor and told him to wield the axe.

After a week of refusing to comment, Murphy finally weighed in Tuesday and pronounced that idea “ridiculous.”

“I make decisions on who works for us on our team and nobody else,” he added.

So why did he fire White? She was “not suited for the job in terms of philosophy,” said Murphy.

Since he refused to elaborate, we can only assume he meant that as former state director of Democrats for Education Reform — and founder of the Newark Legacy Charter School — White has clashed with the NJEA.

And, as the Star-Ledger has written, Murphy’s tighter-than-tight loyalty to the union “is his blind spot and could cripple his governorship.”

Her background should’ve been no mystery. After all, she most recently was the state Education Department’s chief turnaround officer. Said the gov: “I’m just gonna stick with what I said.”

Acting Commissioner Lamont Repollet isn’t talking, either. Nor is the teachers union — to whom Murphy made a lot of unwise campaign promises he’ll (thankfully) have a hard time making good on.

All that’s clear is that an eminently qualified educator was publicly humiliated for reasons no one can adequately explain — and the teachers union got precisely what it wanted.

Tool or fool, Murphy’s off to a bad start.