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Elon Musk’s ‘Cringe AF’ CPAC Stunt Is Mercilessly Mocked Online

The moment went viral on social media.
Lee Moran
By 

Reporter, HuffPost

Elon Musk holds a chainsaw during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on February 20, 2025.
Elon Musk holds a chainsaw during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on February 20, 2025.
SAUL LOEB via Getty Images

Elon Musk wielded a chainsaw on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday and drew instant ridicule online.

The power tool had earlier been gifted to Musk by Argentine President Javier Milei, a fellow public spending slasher. It was inscribed with the phrase “Viva la libertad, carajo,” which is Spanish for “Long live liberty, damn it.”

Musk, who President Donald Trump has charged with gutting the government through the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, called it the “chainsaw for bureaucracy.”

Critics, though, called the stunt “cringe AF” and much more:

Elon Musk waves around a chainsaw at CPAC while Argentinian president Javier Milei gives the thumbs up.

These people are cringe AF and utterly unglued.pic.twitter.com/XEcDou468Y

— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) February 21, 2025

🤦🏻♂️ Just now at CPAC — Musk awkwardly swings around a chainsaw on stage to symbolize their rampage through the federal government, cutting jobs and programs as they pretend to care about the debt (while paving the way for trillions in tax cuts for the rich) pic.twitter.com/ULDGzRf3kq

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) February 20, 2025

Musk’s chainsaw represents:
🚩Americans losing jobs for billionaires tax cut
🚩Farmers losing farms
🚩5 plane crashes after FAA firings
🚩Slow tax refunds *IRS firings
🚩Vets losing care
🚩Cancer research cut
🚩Kids/pregnant women/low income family (Trump supporters)Medicaid cuts pic.twitter.com/6Z1ZI88qkk

— Dawn Young-McDaniel ♿️🎗️ (@justdawn_) February 20, 2025

Elon Musk thinks that firing thousands of people, including veterans, military spouses, people with kids, is like playing a vide game where he gets to take a chainsaw to their lives. So fun, amirite?

He truly sucks at being human. pic.twitter.com/i8du50x3oJ

— GOP Jesus (@GOPJesusUSA) February 21, 2025

Elon Musk brings out a chainsaw and laughs after helping lay off thousands of American civil servants, including health care workers and national security officials pic.twitter.com/pR48yAiwx0

— FactPost (@factpostnews) February 20, 2025

Top: Elon Musk brandishes a chainsaw today at CPAC (real life)

Bottom: President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho brandishes a machine gun in Idiocracy (a fictitious movie) pic.twitter.com/WflPt7aRX7

— Rich Luchette (@richluchette) February 21, 2025
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