DOGE leader Elon Musk sassed at detractors who have called him a Russian asset.
‘People say, like, you know, “I’m a bought asset of Putin,”‘ Musk said onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. ‘I’m like, he can’t afford me,’ Musk said, garnering laughs.
Musk received a hero’s welcome at CPAC, the annual conservative conference held just outside of Washington, D.C., where President Donald Trump also got his political start.
It was the first time Musk ever graced the CPAC stage and he did so alongside a special guest with a special gift.
Argentina’s Trump-like President Javier Milei had gifted Musk a silver and red chainsaw, filming an unboxing video backstage – in which the chainsaw got perilously close to a young child.
Milei then presented the chainsaw to Musk publicly.
‘President Milei has a gift for me,’ Musk told the crowd. The billionaire roared with approval once handed the giant saw.
‘This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,’ Musk yelled.
DOGE leader Elon Musk sassed at detractors who have called him a Russian asset. Putin ‘can’t afford me,’ the billionaire said during his first ever appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference
Elon Musk, who said he was dressed as ‘dark gothic MAGA’, raises the chainsaw gifted to him by Argentina’s Trump-like President Javier Milei
Musk then sat down with Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty where he said he was dressed as ‘dark gothic MAGA,’ leaving his sunglasses on throughout the course of the interview.
‘I’ve become a meme,’ Musk said of his look.
Musk joined the MAGA movement and publicly endorsed Trump after the then Republican nominee was grazed by a bullet at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally on July 13.
The South African-born Musk has relished becoming a key political figure on the political right.
‘It’s cool. This is awesome,’ he told the CPAC crowd. ‘And I just want to say, thanks for your support.’
Musk, the world’s richest man, has been responsible for droves of layoffs of federal workers as his DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency – takes an axe to the federal government.
The moves have been met with applause from most conservatives – but also with controversy, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for example, had to un-fire employees working on the bird flu and members of the National Nuclear Security Administration, tasked with keeping the U.S.’s nuclear stockpile safe.
‘We’re here trying to get some things done,’ Musk said onstage Thursday. ‘And have a good time doing it. And, you know, have like a sense of humor you know?’
Elon Musk pumps his fist before the Conservative Political Action Conference crowd on Thursday – marking his debut at the annual conference held outside of Washington, D.C.
Musk then claimed that the ‘left has made comedy illegal.’
The billionaire also continued to push that subscriptions to news outlets expensed by federal workers meant that media outlets were in their pocket.
‘Federal money going to media companies helps explains why the legacy media all says the same thing at the same time,’ Musk claimed.
He noted how Trump and his allies are often called a ‘threat to our democracy.’
But if you just replace democracy with bureaucracy, it makes a lot of sense,’ Musk said.
