NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Tech billionaire Elon Musk waved a silver chainsaw in his debut appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference to the delight of the packed crowd before delivering withering attacks against Democrats.
At the behest of President Donald Trump, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has moved to slash the federal workforce and government spending, prompting protests from Democrats.
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Musk, donning sunglasses and a gold chain, seemed unconcerned with the protests against him and even questioned Democrats’ ability to mount any resistance to the Trump administration.
“At this point, I’m not sure how much of the Left is even real,” Musk mused. “It doesn’t have popular support.”
Musk also slammed Democrats who he claimed went “crazy” and led him to leave behind his politically neutral stance.
“No, I mean the whole cancel culture, and, you know, it’s trying to stop freedom of speech and infringe upon, just in general infringe upon people’s personal freedoms,” he said.
Democrats, labor unions, and like-minded allies have sued the Trump administration over DOGE’s ability to push out thousands of workers, effectively shutter agencies, and block funds that Congress has appropriated.
Democrats have derisively referred to the Trump ally as President Musk. However, during a joint Fox News interview with Trump, the two men dismissed the accusations. A week before Trump signed an executive order directly federal agencies to work with DOGE’s efforts to slash spending and the federal workforce.
On Presidents Day, protesters across the country took to the streets to display their opposition to Musk, but the tech leader remains undeterred that the work DOGE is doing is necessary to stop government waste.
“A massive amount of your tax money is going directly to the legacy media from the federal government,” Musk bemoaned after the administration ended subscriptions for outlets including Politico.
Musk also reiterated support for sending out 20% of the money saved by DOGE to the public. Taxpayers could see up to $5,000 checks if Musk reaches the goal of saving $2 trillion in spending.
“I told the president, he’s supportive of that. So it sounds like something we’re going to do,” Musk said of the so-called DOGE dividend.
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Just mere hours before Musk spoke, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) appeared cool to the idea during his remarks at CPAC.
“Fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives, that’s our brand,” Johnson said. “And we have a $36 trillion federal debt. We have a giant deficit that we’re contending with. I think we need to pay down the credit card, right?”
