Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday was seen waving a chainsaw in the air, symbolising slashing US government expenditure under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that he heads under the Donald Trump administration, and the willingness to downsize the federal workforce. He called it a “chainsaw for bureaucracy”.
The DOGE, Musk’s brainchild, has been aggressively cutting federal funding, with Trump having given it a free hand to restrict public spending to save $2 trillion.
DOGE lists down every dollar it has saved on its website. The department claims to have saved USD 55 billion by February 19 with a single contract being worth $8 billion.
The Tesla CEO was attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington on Thursday when he was gifted the chainsaw by Argentine President Javier Milei, who he met before appearing on stage during the gathering. Musk has often heaped praise on Milei, who popularised the chainsaw during his own presidential campaign in 2023, symbolising a reduction in public spending.
During the CPAC, Musk could be seen wearing his trademark black “Make America Great Again” cap clubbed with shades. Moments later, Argentine President Milei walked onstage with a red chainsaw and handed it over to the SpaceX owner. Milei’s slogan, “Viva la libertad, carajo (Spanish for Long live liberty, damn it),” was engraved on the power tool.
A video of Musk swinging the chainsaw amid the loud cheers of the gathering went viral on social media. He could also be heard saying, “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy”.
Addressing the CPAC, he claimed that the previous Biden administration and Democrats to allowing over 1 million immigrants into the US with eligibility to work on two-year permits as an “investment” to boost their support in swing states.
“A lot of people don’t quite appreciate that this was an actual real scam at scale to tilt the scales of democracy in America,” the Associated Press quoted Musk as saying. When Newsmax host Rob Schmitt asked him if it was “Treason”, Musk replied in the affirmative.
Musk also said that he was indeed open to considering auditing the Federal Reserve. “Waste is pretty much everywhere,” the DOGE chief said.
WHAT IS DOGE?
President Donald Trump established the DOGE after taking office last month. The aim of DOGE is to cut federal spending by nearly USD 2 trillion. The agency was formed through an executive order and operates as an advisory body, with at least four employees assigned to each federal agency. However, DOGE is not an official government department, as that would have required congressional approval.
Elon Musk has been the public face of DOGE and was granted special government employee status by the White House. However, Democratic-led states have filed lawsuits questioning the unchecked authority he has been given.
The Trump administration has defended Musk’s role, claiming he only advises the President and communicates directives rather than making independent government decisions. According to the Office of Administration, Musk is not an employee of DOGE but instead an employee of the White House.