OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:32 PM – Thursday, February 20, 2025
Elon Musk, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump and special government employee (SGE), surprised everyone at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday night after making a memorable entrance — holding a custom chainsaw that was gifted to him by Argentina’s president.
Advertisement
Musk could also be seen wearing a dark black coat, sunglasses, and his famous “Dark Gothic MAGA” cap.
During his interview, Musk covered a wide range of subjects, such as the most recent DOGE updates, the media’s and Democrats’ bizarre animosity toward him, and the significance of cutting back on waste, fraud, and overspending in the federal government.
Additionally, Musk maintained that he is currently in discussions with Trump regarding the possibility of giving U.S. citizens tax refunds based on the money that DOGE has saved so far — around $55 billion, if not more, according to their estimates.
President Javier Milei of Argentina, who is likewise renowned for drastically reducing the size of his nation’s government, joined the DOGE affiliate at the beginning of his speech. Some of Trump’s actions as president have been compared to President Milei’s economic efforts in his own country — as Argentina’s fiscal deficit has now successfully been eliminated for the first time in 123 years.
Reminiscent of a widely shared video of Milei, the two men brandished a custom chainsaw, signifying their common objective of reducing government waste and fraud.
“I wasn’t really that interested in being political. It’s just like there was at a certain point no choice,” Musk stated. “The actions that we’re taking, with the support of the president and the support of the agencies, is what will save Medicare, what will save Social Security.”
“That’s the reason I’m doing this,” he continued. “Because I was looking at the big picture here and it’s like, man, it’s getting out of control.”
“A country is no different from a person,” Musk added. “[A] Country overspends, a country goes bankrupt in the same way as a person who overspends usually goes bankrupt. So, it’s not like optional to solve these things, it’s essential.”
Musk further acknowledged that he is discussing the prospect of paying out “DOGE dividends” to American taxpayers from the money saved by reducing government waste.
“I talked to the president, and he’s supportive of that and so it sounds like, you know, that’s something we’re going to do,” Musk said. “So, as we’re finding savings, that’s going to translate directly to reductions in tax.”
Additionally, he blasted the Biden administration and long-standing government officials for what he described as a “very obvious” plan to siphon off taxpayer funds for their own ideological goals and affluent lifestyles — including importing voters through illegal immigration.
“You don’t actually have to assume some grand conspiracy, you just need to look at basic incentives,” he said. “If the probability [is] that an illegal is going to vote Democrat at some point … then the incentive is to maximize the number of illegals in the country. That is why the Biden administration was pushing to get in as many illegals as possible and spent every dollar possible to get as many [as they could] because every one of them is a customer.”
Due to his involvement with DOGE and efforts to eliminate certain government programs, many of which had their roots in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and other liberal and leftist causes — Musk has been the target of a great deal of Democrat-geared media criticism since Trump’s return to the White House.
“People ask me, what’s the most surprising thing that you’ve encountered when you got to D.C.?” he said. “Well, the most surprising thing is the scale of the expenditures and actually, how easy it is to – when you add caring and competence where it was absent before – you can actually save billions of dollars sometimes in the span of an hour. Like it’s wild.”
“It just shows that they really lack empathy for the average taxpayer who’s working hard, paying taxes and then and then they say: ‘Oh: ‘$1 million doesn’t matter.’ I’m like: ‘I think it matters a lot to people.’”
“They’re always saying like ‘threat to our democracy.” But if you just replace democracy with bureaucracy, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. It makes perfect sense, big threat to the bureaucracy,” he said while laughing.
Musk also discussed some of his personal reasons for being concerned about addressing government waste and fraud — even though he wasn’t born in the United States.
“I grew up in South Africa, but my morality was informed by America. I read comic books, you know, played Dungeons and Dragons and I watched American T.V. shows, and it seemed like America cared about being the good guys, you know? About doing the right thing,” Musk continued. “So, I was like, yeah, you want to be on the side of good, you want to care about what’s right.”
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Advertisements below